One of the most fundamental human rights is the right to freedom from torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Therefore, the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) welcomes the publication of the 4th report of the Council of Europe’s Committee on the Prevention of Torture (CPT), as it is the leading European body of experts on conditions in places of detention. The IHRC engaged with the Committee during its investigations and has made numerous and detailed submissions to it, including observations in 2004 on the implementation of the recommendations of the 3rd CPT Report in 2002.
On an initial reading of this report by the CPT, the IHRC is deeply concerned by the issues raised in it, in particular issues that have been highlighted previously and remain unaddressed.
The IHRC is disappointed to see that issues such as the physical conditions in our prisons, including: the issue of slopping out; the treatment of mentally ill prisoners; and the absence of an effective system of accountability in our prisons remain unresolved. All of these issues were outlined in detail by the IHRC and the CPT in previous reports.
Acting Chief Executive, Des Hogan said that "Perhaps the most worrying aspect of this report is that the CPT deems a number of prisons to be unsafe for both prisoners and staff. Increased inter-prisoner violence in our prisons is a serious concern and prisoners who seek protection out of fear of attack should not be subjected to a punitive regime of isolation in their cells as the CPT found."
The IHRC plans to examine the CPT report in detail, and as before, will monitor the government’s progress in meeting the report’s recommendations to adequately protect the human rights of detained persons.
Mr Hogan went on to say that "while the Government is engaged in a major capital spending programme and argues that this will address many of the Committee’s concerns, the human rights concerns and dangers to prisoners and staff identified in this report demand immediate and urgent action. The IHRC is committed to working with the relevant Government agencies to ensure that the recommendations of the CPT are acted on."
In light of the recommendations in the CPT report, Mr Hogan continued, that "an important step for the Government should be to ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and to put in place a preventive system of training and inspections that will help prevent ill treatment in our own places of detention."
ENDS/
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