September 20, 2019 Ireland: overcrowding an issue as prison inmate numbers rise 11% in two years News Europe Overcrowding Ireland The Irish Prison Service said more people are being sent to prison and overcrowding has once again become an issue in Irish prisons. The number of inmates has increased by 11% in the last two years, with more than 4,000 people now in custody on a regular basis. Remand prisoners have increased by mo…
July 25, 2019 Ireland: evidence of wrongful surveillance by prison service staff uncovered News Europe Ireland Staff exceeded remit and engaged in unacceptable practices, Minister for Justice says.
April 24, 2019 Ireland: Minister expresses ‘grave concern’ over prison deaths in internal correspondence News Europe Ireland Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan has expressed “grave concern” at the handling of deaths in prisons, according to internal prison service correspondence seen by the Irish Examiner. The minister’s concern followed a recent inquest in Cork which heard that CCTV footage showed that a written reco…
March 18, 2019 Ireland: 35 cases of tuberculosis News Europe Health Ireland Figures show 26 prisoners and nine officers contracted contagious disease over 10 years.
February 7, 2019 Ireland: two deaths in 10 days at Midlands prison News Ireland Suicide is suspected as the cause of death in both instances, but investigations are ongoing. It is highly unusual for two deaths to occur in such a short time span in a single prison.
December 17, 2018 Ireland: vulnerable woman repeatedly assaulted upon leaving prison News Europe Ireland A vulnerable woman was repeatedly sexually assaulted after being released from a Belfast prison 13 times, a report has said.
November 29, 2018 Ireland : Cork Prison officers criticised over cell checks News Europe Ireland Officers at Cork Prison have been criticised over their failure to regularly inspect an inmate who was found hanging in his cell within hours of arriving in the jail.
November 10, 2018 Ireland: prison service defends luxuries in new violence reduction unit for country's most dangerous inmates News Europe Violence Ireland “If they don’t experience some normality in prison how are they going to behave normally outside?”
June 20, 2018 Ireland: Court asked to hear appeal with possible implications for up to 1,000 "slopping out" cases. News Ireland The Supreme Court has been asked to hear an appeal by a former prisoner with potential implications for up to 1,000 cases concerning slopping out in prisons.
May 23, 2018 Ireland: prisons unable to meet rising population’s need for mental healthcare News Health Mental health Ireland Percentage of prison population with mental illness more than doubled since 2015.
May 3, 2018 Ireland: law governing detention in psychiatric units unconstitutional News Mental health Ireland Court of Appeal acknowledged ‘potentially chaotic and catastrophic consequences’ of its finding.
March 21, 2018 Ireland: human rights group applies to join extradition to Poland case News Ireland Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly has said a number of recent legislative changes in Poland were “so immense” that the High Court was forced to conclude that the rule of law in Poland had been “systematically damaged”.
June 23, 2017 Ireland: new bail law approved by Oireachtas News Ireland Legislation providing increase guidance for the courts and greater transparency in the bail process has been approved by the Oireachtas. The Criminal Justice Bill 2016 completed its final legislative stages yesterday.
June 21, 2017 Ireland: prisoner numbers down as more get community service instead of jail News Ireland The number of people being committed to prison has plummeted after measures requiring judges to consider community services as an alternative to a jail term.
May 25, 2017 Ireland: penal reform group concerned over increased parole ineligibility for life prisoners News Justice Ireland A penal reform group has raised concerns after the Oireachtas justice committee voted to amend the Parole Bill 2016 to raise the period of ineligibility for parole for life-sentenced prisoners from eight to 12 years.
March 8, 2017 Ireland: Mountjoy training unit set to be knocked down and rebuilt to accommodate older inmates in prison News Facilities Ireland Inmates who are currently housed in the training unit will be moved to other areas of the jail campus until the building, which is expected to take up to two years, is finished.
March 3, 2017 Forty-nine prisoners still slopping out in Ireland News Ireland Forty-nine prisoners are still slopping out in Irish prisons as of January 2017, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has confirmed.
February 14, 2017 Ireland’s unequal treatment of women in the criminal justice system raised with the U.N. News Women Ireland Ireland is sending too many women to prison for non-violent offences, including failure to pay court-ordered fines, and the lack of provision of gender-specific alternatives to prison and the lack of open prison facilities for women may amount to discrimination under the UN Convention on Eliminatio…
January 30, 2017 Ireland: life sentence prisoners served 22 years average in prison News Long-term prisoners Ireland Prisoners released in 2016 served on average four years more than those released in 2015. Life sentence prisoners released in 2016 served an average 22 years in custody, an increase of four-and-a-half years on 2015.
