Treatment of female prisoners criticised

JUSTICE Minister Alan Shatter has described as “unacceptable” the treatment of female inmates in two cases highlighted in a recent inspection report on Dochas Women’s Prison.

Mr Shatter confirmed to the Dáil that women were stripped naked for a search and given only towels to cover themselves for an internal body scan.

He was responding to a series of claims in the 2010 report of the Dochas Visiting Committee.