Ireland’s statutory prisons watchdog, the Office of the Inspector of Prisons (OIP) has completed an unannounced general inspection of Castlerea Prison.

The inspection took place between 8 and 16 September 2025 and concluded with a formal meeting at which the Inspectorate shared its preliminaryfindings with Governor, senior staff and a representative of Irish Prison Service (IPS) Headquarters.

Eleven of Ireland’s thirteen prisons have now received unannounced general inspections as part of the Inspectorate’s programme of regular inspections of all prisons in Ireland.

The inspections are carried out under the Inspectorate’s Framework for the Inspection of Prisons in Ireland.

Specially secured electronic tablets were used to enable a significant number of prisoners to complete an anonymous survey. Staff working in Castlerea Prison were also surveyed anonymously. These survey results became available in real time during the inspection.

This inspection was carried out by:

  • Mr. Mark Kelly, Chief Inspector of Prisons
  • Ms. Michelle Martyn, Lead Inspector
  • Mr. Matthew Butterly, Inspector
  • Mr. Gerry Cronin, Inspector
  • Dr. Sarah Curristan, Inspector
  • Ms. Orla Dick, Inspector
  • Dr. Douglas Nanka-Bruce, Data Analyst
  • Mr. Kevin Cleary, Information Co-ordinator

The OIP Inspection Team was assisted by the following experts:

  • Ms. Angela Cullen, Nursing Expert
  • Mr. Antony Hassell, Safety & Security Expert
  • Dr. Kate Woods, General Practitioner & Prison Doctor

In addition, the team benefitted from the expertise of Ms Liz O’Neill (Senior Inspector) from the Inspectorate of the Department of Education (*).

Speaking about the Inspectorate’s preliminary findings, Chief Inspector Mr Mark Kelly said:

“Castlerea was one of a number of prisons visited last year by the Council of Europe’s European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT). I fully share the deep concerns expressed in the CPT’s visit report (**) about the state of Ireland’s prisons. As regards Castlerea Prison, the CPT expressed the view that the treatment of some vulnerable prisoners who are severely mentally ill could be considered inhuman and degrading. Consequently, the inspection team examined whether steps have been taken to improve the situation in the light of the CPT’s recommendations.”

“More generally, while some of the accommodation at Castlerea is of a high standard and work, training and education are being prioritised, there is still a significant cohort of prisoners who spend their lives in overcrowded cells, sleeping on mattresses on floors, for up to 23 hours per day. It is unconscionable that, in 2025, prisoners in Ireland continue to be held in such conditions”.

Note to editors

The Office of the Inspector of Prisons is a statutory body, independent in how it carries out its work, set up under the Prisons Act 2007.

The law underpinning the role of Chief Inspector of Prisons is set out in Part5, Sections 30 to 32 of the Prisons Act 2007. Section 30 provides for the appointment of the Chief Inspector, Section 31 sets out the functions of the Chief Inspector and Section 32 specifies the requirement to submit an Annual Report to the Minister for Justice, by 31 March in any year. The Inspectorate’s Annual Report for 2024 was submitted to the Minister on 31 March 2025. It remains unpublished.

Under Section 31 of the Act, the Chief Inspector of Prisons is obliged to carry out regular inspections of prisons and for this purpose may: at any time enter any prison or any part of a prison, request and obtain from the Governor a copy of any books, records, other documents or extracts from such documents, and, in the course of an inspection or arising out of an inspection bring any issues of concern to the notice of the governor of the prison
concerned, the Director General of the Irish Prison Service or the Minister as the Chief Inspector considers appropriate.

The Chief Inspector may, and must if he receives a request from the Minister, investigate any matter arising out of the management or operation of a prison and shall submit to the Minister a report on any such investigation. Governors, prison officers, other persons employed in prisons and prisoners, must as far as reasonably practicable, comply with any request for information that the Chief Inspector may make in the performance of his functions.

Since 2012, the Chief Inspector has also been obliged to investigate the circumstances of all deaths in custody and those within one month of temporary release from custody. To date in 2025, there have been eleven deaths falling within the Inspectorate’s mandate, all of which are being independently investigated.

In addition to the legislative authority derived from the Act, the Chief Inspector has specified functions under Prison Rules 2007-2013 in relation to the Irish Prison Service Prisoner Complaints Procedure (Rule 57B) and letters from prisoners (Rule 44 (1) (h)).

It is anticipated that, in the near future, the Inspectorate will become the Inspectorate of Places of Detention, with an expanded remit as the National Preventive Mechanism for the Justice sector under the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture (OPCAT).

(*) The OIP has concluded a Memorandum of Agreement with the Inspectorate of the Department of Education, enabling it to benefit from the expertise of colleagues from that Inspectorate when assessing educational provision in prisons.
(**) The report on the CPT’s 2024 visit to Ireland was published, together with the response of the Irish Government, on 24 July 2025. Both documents are available at this link: https://www.coe.int/en/web/cpt/-/council-of-europe-anti-torture-committee-cpt-publishes-report-on-its-2024-periodic-visit-to-ireland

For further information, please see: www.oip.ie

ENDS