Young convicts ‘denied basic rights’

Young offenders are being verbally abused, denied basic rights and held in cold, filthy cells with broken toilets filled with excrement.

The Inspector of Prisons Judge Michael Reilly said he witnessed inmates in St Patrick’s Institution crying in their cells, denied phone calls to their families, and suffering mental distress.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter has promised to close the institution, after Judge Reilly urged him to do so.