Short-sighted attitude to prison overcrowding reflects our country's political cowardice

There is an illusion in some sections of society that prison can be a bit of a holiday camp. This is completely at odds with the reality of living conditions, writes Mick Clifford 

A cell in Mountjoy Prison with a mattress on the floor to accommodate a second prisoner because of overcrowding. Photo: Moya Nolan

Imagine your home for the foreseeable is a small little room, measuring less than 12 square metres. That’s maybe four meters long, three metres wide. 

Imagine you’re a man living there with three other men. There is a toilet in this room that is not partitioned off.