Slopping out in prisons at an end
With the completion of a new jail in Cork, in two month’s time, only 2% of the 3,977 behind bars will have to slop out, according to Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald.
In a written Dáil reply to Sinn Féin’s Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, she said that when the new Cork prison is completed in February, slopping out will only exist in the ‘A’ wing of Limerick prison — which houses on average 50 prisoners — and in ‘E’ block at Portaloise, which houses 34 prisoners.
Ms Fitzgerald said the practice will end in Limerick with the provision of new accommodation at the prison. Construction is expected to begin there in early 2017.
Meanwhile, a separate development at Portlaoise, already underway, will end the practice there.
Cork prison currently has capacity for 200 prisoners. The vast majority still have to slop out until the new building is operational.
The Cork northside project marks the largest single investment ever in the prison estate and Ms Fitzgerald said: “In keeping with our commitment to eliminate slopping out, as made in the Programme for Government, the focus of capital investment in prisons has been weighted towards achieving that goal.
“All of the wings in Mountjoy Prison have been completely refurbished, thereby facilitating the elimination of the practice of slopping out in the prison.”
The numbers of prisoners forced to undertake the practice declined sharply from a figure of 1,003 in 2010.
Previously, the Irish branch of Amnesty International had expressed its concern over the practice.
The practice had been criticised as prisoners had to urinate and defecate into a small pot in a cell often shared with others. They have no access to running water to wash their hands, are forced to sleep with the contents overnight, and publicly take the contents to a sluice area the following day.
