During the visit, the Committee examined the treatment of individuals deprived of liberty in five different prisons, as well as at the Central Mental Hospital, the Oberstown Children Detention Campus and the Ballydowd Special Care Unit.

The CPT noted that certain reforms to improve the situation in Irish prisons had been implemented since the Committee’s previous visit in 2019. For example, infrastructure has improved, particularly in the women’s estate, and the use of segregation for security reasons has decreased significantly, supported by better record-keeping and oversight. The scope of temporary release has expanded, and “slopping-out” practices have been almost eradicated.

However, several entrenched issues of concern remain: pervasive overcrowding, worsening safety in men’s prisons, inadequate mental healthcare, poor treatment of prisoners held on protection regimes, and gaps in legal protections for some of the most vulnerable persons including mentally ill prisoners and young people in detention. In its report, the CPT calls for the Irish authorities to take concrete actions to address these critical issues.

The CPT found that physical safety in male prisons has deteriorated sharply. Allegations of prisoner abuse by staff have increased since 2019, particularly in Cloverhill and Limerick Prisons. Incidents included slaps, punches, kicks and other violence in places without CCTV coverage, such as escort vans and reception areas. The CPT also received several allegations of excessive force during control and restraint interventions and relocations, some corroborated by medical findings and independent enquiries. Meanwhile, inter-prisoner violence remains widespread, with drug-related conflict and contraband smuggling driving much of the violence.  

Equally concerning was a pattern of some preventable deaths in custody, notably among prisoners suspected of concealing drugs inside their bodies. The absence of rigorous critical incident reviews means that similar tragedies recur without institutional learning or corrective action.

Overcrowding remains a chronic issue. In most facilities visited, many cells were packed with three or four inmates in single or double-occupancy cells. Some persons were forced to sleep on camp beds or mattresses on the floor, sometimes in squalid conditions. Such overcrowding exacerbated the situation for prisoners held in restricted segregation for protection reasons, who often spend up to 22 or even 23 hours a day locked in their cells, sometimes for extended periods, without meaningful activities. Such conditions, in the CPT’s view, may amount to inhuman and degrading treatment.