The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has today called for the immediate ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), in response to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) today publishing its report on its May 2024 visit to Ireland.
In it, the CPT expressed serious concern over worsening conditions in the country’s prisons, particularly for male inmates. The Committee notes with “deep disappointment” that many recommendations from its 2019 visit remain unaddressed, with some areas deteriorating significantly.
The CPT’s findings paint a stark picture of Ireland’s detention system, identifying:
- A “sharp deterioration in physical safety” in men’s prisons;
- Critically inadequate mental healthcare;
- Widespread inter-prisoner violence and a pattern of preventable deaths in custody, often without critical incident reviews;
- Allegations of abuse by staff in areas lacking CCTV coverage, including escort vans and reception zones, some supported by medical evidence and independent investigations.
One particularly disturbing case involved an inmate reportedly punched and violently shaken by a prison officer while restrained and motionless in an escort van. The CPT noted the severity and nature of the incident may amount to, at least, physical ill-treatment by a prison officer, and may even, in its view, amount to torture.
Overcrowding remains endemic, the CPT says, impacting every aspect of prison life, from mental health care, to access to meaningful activity. Of particular concern is the rise in prisoners held in prolonged solitary-style protection regimes, some confined 23 hours a day for extended periods. “The cumulative effect of such conditions may well amount to inhuman and degrading treatment,” the Committee warns.
Case examples include:
- Two pregnant women, one who was forced to sleep on a floor mattress prior to the CPT’s visit, and another who the delegation found to be sleeping on the floor on a fragile foldaway camp-bed, due to overcrowding, at the time of the visit.
- A transgender woman held in squalid, male-only conditions at Limerick Prison with little access to light, ventilation, or support—confined 23 hours a day;
- Dozens of prisoners in high-risk units facing near-total lockdown with inadequate regimes.
While conditions in the Central Mental Hospital and child detention facilities were not as dire, the CPT flagged several issues. In the Central Mental Hospital, legal barriers continue to delay discharges, resulting in patients held far beyond clinical need, a situation the Committee calls “restrictive and, in some cases, degrading.” It also highlighted extended seclusion periods and lack of safeguards for patients classified as "wards of court."
For child detention, the Committee acknowledged a child-centred approach in Oberstown and Ballydowd but raised ongoing concerns, including poor record-keeping around isolation and gaps in training to prevent excessive interventions. It reiterated longstanding capacity issues in special care units, leading to extended and inappropriate detention of vulnerable youth.
The CPT also noted that, despite repeated assurances from the Department of Justice, Ireland has yet to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), 17 years after signing it in 2007, and has still not established a functioning National Preventive Mechanism (NPM).
The Committee again reiterated with the Government the importance of Ireland ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) and establishing a fully resourced National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) and that ‘this step is crucial to ensure continued oversight and improvement of conditions within the prison estate, psychiatric establishments and children’s detention facilities in Ireland.”
Liam Herrick, Chief Commissioner said:
“This report contains harrowing examples of the experiences of people who are particularly vulnerable by virtue of being deprived of their liberty. While progress has been made in some areas, the failure to address long-standing issues, and the worsening of conditions in key areas such as violence and overcrowding, highlight the urgent need for systemic reform of inspection and oversight of all places of detention. This means that Ireland must finally and immediately ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture – as the last remaining EU State to do so.”
Editor notes
Examples of Overcrowding and Prisoner Abuse
Pregnant prisoners - para 186-187
186. One pregnant woman at the Dóchas Centre also informed the delegation that she had been sleeping on a mattress on the floor prior to the delegation’s visit. The delegation also found another pregnant woman at Limerick Prison, also found to be sleeping on the floor on a fragile foldaway camp-bed, due to overcrowding, at the time of the visit.
Transgender prisoner - 106-108
106. The most impoverished regime was in the dungeon-like high protection unit of D1 of Limerick Prison. The CPT was particularly concerned about a few prisoners who were being held alone in their cells for 22 hours or more a day and hence were in a situation of de facto solitary confinement. The delegation was particularly struck by the situation of a transgender woman Rule 63 prisoner, held on D1 at Limerick male Prison, who was living in squalid conditions with minimal access to natural light and ventilation, and poor and inappropriate material conditions and regime, on 23 hour lock-up.
107. At the end of the visit, the CPT delegation made an immediate observation under Article 8, paragraph 5, of the Convention, requesting that the Irish authorities ensure that the transgender woman Rule 63 prisoner (Prisoner X), located on D1 at Limerick male Prison, be offered a meaningful regime of activities, more out-of-cell time and be placed in another cell with better material conditions. Further, steps should be taken to immediately refurbish this cell and others on D1 Unit at Limerick male Prison.
108. The Irish authorities replied, by letter of 12 July 2024, outlining various measures undertaken in response to the CPT’s preliminary observations, including a pending IPS assessment of the conditions of D1 Unit with a view to remedial works, and the availability of a gym on the landing, solely for the use of prisoners on D1. However, a response to the immediate measures recommended by the CPT for Prisoner X specifically was not included and is thus still outstanding.
The CPT recommends that the IPS and Limerick Prison offer Prisoner X, along with all the prisoners held on D1, a meaningful regime of purposeful regular activities and much more out-of-cell time and a transfer to another location within the prison offering adequate living conditions.
Beaten prisoner - para 38-42
38. Seen from the CCTV footage (which was newly installed, and of which Officer A was unaware (see below)), after the cubical door was opened, Officer A pushed the shield against Prisoner 1. He then continued by striking Prisoner 1 with the shield in a downward motion, with force, three times in a row, and then struck hard again at the Prisoner 1’s head with the shield in a slicing sideways motion. After throwing the shield back, Officer A is seen on the van’s CCTV to punch Prisoner 1 with a closed fist, albeit that at that point Prisoner 1 was already motionless crumpled on the floor and posed no threat to the Officer. He then grabbed Prisoner 1 by the neck, shaking him violently. Prisoner 1 was then carried out from the prison van and is seen on CCTV to have a severe wound to the right upper side of his face and was bleeding significantly from large open wounds on his head.
The Committee also notes that the prison officers involved originally stated officially that the injuries were a result of prisoner self-inflicted injury. Even the prison doctor’s notes of 3 November 2023 state “self-injury at the back of the transport van”.
39. Upon analysis of the relevant documentation and evidence, the Committee finds that this incident is deeply troubling in a number of respects. 40. First, it considers that the severity and nature of the incident may amount to, at least, physical ill-treatment by a prison officer, and may even, in its view, amount to torture. It considers that this conduct indicates a level of individual cruel abusive treatment on the part of Officer A, who abused a position of responsibility and power, causing severe and as yet immeasurable life consequences due to the brain injuries to a person to whom the prison had a protective responsibility. Officer A, and the other prison officers, then attempted to hide the truth of the incident.
Also, the CCTV was only installed because of previous complaints made against the same Officer