Call for ombudsman to hear prisoner complaints

AN INDEPENDENT and effective complaints body such as a prison ombudsman must be established to ensure prisoners are protected from ill-treatment and from reprisals as a consequence of their complaints, the UN Committee Against Torture has recommended.

Making its concluding observations of its first examination of Ireland, UNCAT makes it clear that a prisoner complaints system is essential to address and to prevent the ill-treatment of prisoners.

IPRT executive director Liam Herrick said the UN committee had given an “unambiguous direction” to the Government to establish an independent and effective complaints body for prisoners.

Mr Herrick said bodies such as the Garda Ombudsman and prison ombudsman bodies in Britain and in the North were a testament to their success and necessity.

Other areas of concern highlighted in relation to the prison system include:

* “Deep concern” at the level of overcrowding in the prison system.

* A call for urgent action to end slopping out.

* “Grave concern” at the ongoing detention of 16 and 17-year-olds in St Patrick’s institution.

UNCAT also highlighted the high rate of inter-prisoner violence as a particular concern. It issued specific directions to the Government to address the contributing factors.

They were: the availability of drugs; the existence of feuding gangs; lack of purposeful activities; lack of space and poor material conditions, and included a call to investigate allegations of racism against Traveller prisoners.

UNCAT called for an urgent decision from the Government to proceed “without delay” on the construction of the child detention facility at Lusk and to end the detention of children at St Patrick’s. The Ombudsman for Children’s powers should also be extended to receive complaints from children in prison.

“The committee’s strong recommendation to end the detention of children in prison should now lead to firm commitment from Government that the necessary funds will be made available to complete the construction project at Lusk that has been delayed for several years now,” the committee said.

In recognising that overcrowding was a central problem in the prison system, UNCAT makes clear that the Government must “adopt” a policy focussing on the development of alternative, non-custodial sanctions to reduce the numbers in custody.