FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE THURSDAY 15th JANUARY – Four newly-published reports on five inspections by Ireland’s Chief Inspector of Prisons paint a stark picture of conditions across the prison system. The reports pinpoint overcrowding as a central driver of degrading living conditions, restricted regimes and curtailed access to healthcare and rehabilitation.

The reports describe inspections of Mountjoy Men’s Prison and the Training Unit, the Dóchas Centre, Cork Prison and Cloverhill Prison, which together house a significant proportion of the population of people living in Ireland’s prisons. Examples of good practice are highlighted, particularly in the Training Unit; however, the Chief Inspector has found persistent and systemic failings across the prison estate.

In Cloverhill Prison, more than two-thirds of prisoners were held in cells that did not meet minimum standards for personal living space, with one quarter living in conditions amounting to degrading treatment. At Mountjoy Men’s Prison, approximately half of the prisoners in the main prison were on restricted regimes, experiencing very limited time out of their cells, while the continued use of solitary confinement was also identified. These two prisons have since been revisited by the Inspectorate (*).

The 2024 follow-up inspection of Cloverhill Prison found that the conditions in which the vast majority of people were living could be qualified as degrading. The only significant difference was that a higher proportion of people living in the prison were being held in degrading conditions. During the 2025 follow-up inspection of Mountjoy Prison, inspectors found that the dramatic increase in its population had generated significant adverse consequences for people living and working there. The documented living conditions of some prisoners sharing cells in Mountjoy were deplorable and can be considered to amount to inhuman and degrading treatment.

In the Dóchas Centre, approximately 30 per cent of women were held on remand, with around half reporting that they did not feel safe. Staff-prisoner relations were poor. The inspection also found that women with serious mental illness were being accommodated in inappropriate prison settings. In Cork Prison, overcrowding, poor quality bedding and limited access to healthcare were compounded by low prisoner confidence in the complaints system.

Across the four reports, the Inspectorate recommends urgent action to reduce overcrowding, eliminate the use of mattresses on floors, end prolonged solitary confinement, strengthen pathways to mental health care and ensure consistent access to healthcare, work, education and resettlement supports.

Commenting today (15 January 2026) on the publication of the reports, Chief Inspector of Prisons Mark Kelly, said:

“These newly-published inspection reports provide clear and compelling evidence of the consequences of overcrowding in our prisons. In too many cases, people are being held in conditions that undermine their dignity, safety and well-being. At the same time, the positive regimes found in parts of some prisons show that better outcomes are possible. The recommendations in these reports are intended to support practical, system-wide reform and to assist those accountable for our prisons to address long-standing and deeply embedded problems.”

He added:

“As the Council of Europe’s European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has stressed, the grave situation in Ireland’s prisons calls for reinforced independent monitoring, buttressed by enactment of the Inspection of Places of Detention Bill, ratification of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) and designation of an effective National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) for the whole of the criminal justice system”

The reports include a series of systemic recommendations addressed to the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, as well as the Director General of the Irish Prison Service. The Irish Prison Service (IPS) has prepared Action Plans in response to the OIP’s recommendations. The OIP’s reports and the IPS Action Plans can be viewed in full at www.oip.ie/publications

ENDS

For all media queries, please contact:

Aislinn Burke – Account Manager – We the People
Email: [email protected] / Ph: 089-492-8237

Notes to Editors:
Copies of the OIP inspection reports and IPS Action Plans can be viewed at:
Reports: https://www.oip.ie/reports-on-five-prison-inspections-published-today/
IPS Action Plans: https://www.oip.ie/ips-action-plans-on-five-prison-inspections-published-today/

ABOUT THE OFFICE OF THE INSPECTORS OF PRISONS

The Office of the Inspector of Prisons (OIP) is Ireland’s independent watchdog for the prison system. It was established under the Prisons Act 2007 and is headed today by international human rights lawyer Chief Inspector Mark Kelly. The OIP inspects prisons, investigates deaths in custody, and monitors conditions of detention to ensure they meet human rights standards. It was established to be a fair and impartial body, and reports publicly on its findings and makes recommendations to improve transparency, accountability, and the humane treatment of people in custody.

(*) The OIP’s reports on its 2024 and 2025 follow-up inspections of Cloverhill and Mountjoy Prisons have been submitted to the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. Under the terms of the Prisons Act 2007, they should be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas and published “as soon as practicable”

ABOUT THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE (COE)

The preventive work of the OIP is supported by a Joint Project of the European Union and the Council of Europe, “Technical Support for More Effective and Resilient National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs)”. The Project supports existing and emerging National Preventive Mechanisms to strengthen their capacity to prevent torture and ill treatment in places of detention, in line with the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and relevant European (OPCAT) and other international human rights standards, including those of the Council of Europe’s European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and of the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights.

The Council of Europe is Europe’s leading human rights organisation, comprising 46 member states. It works to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law, setting common standards through international conventions, including the European Convention on Human Rights, and supporting member states in strengthening laws, institutions and practice.