Prison health service ‘borders on abuse’

THE standard of prison health services is “tantamount to abuse” and risks leaving taxpayers open to potentially serious medical litigation cases, it has been claimed.

A scathing letter from the Irish Prison Doctors Association (IPDA) to outgoing Justice Minister Dermot Ahern has claimed that medical support levels in the prison system are falling far below international best practice.

According to the letter, sent by IPDA secretary Dr Gregory Kelly on November 4, “working conditions, the lack of suitable facilities... and gross interference by non-medical administrators” are putting prisoner safety and taxpayers’ money at risk.