Irish Examiner view: Duty of care owed to prisoners

There are no addiction nurses employed by the Irish Prison Service, even though thousands of prisoners suffer from addiction issues

According to the justice minister, approximately seven out of 10 prisoners have addiction issues. Picture: Dan Linehan

Our prison system is known to be under pressure on several fronts, with overcrowding a particular problem. 

Last year we learned that hundreds of inmates were sleeping on mattresses, for instance, because there was so little space in our prisons.