Dan Neville
Question:79 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of prisoners placed in solitary confinement, that is, padded isolation cells in 2002, 2003 and 2004. [27082/04]
View answerWednesday, 3 November 2004
Questions (21)
Oral answers (10 contributions)
The isolation cells referred to in the question were used a total of 851 times during the year 2002, 970 times during 2003 and 792 times during 2004 to date. St. Patrick's Institution also reports the incidence of the use of isolation cells in these years as 268, 178 and 190, respectively. These include the use of other cells which are simply unfurnished as opposed to the type referred to by the Deputy.
As the Deputy is aware, shortly after my appointment as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform I visited a number of prisons and saw padded cells in use. What I saw was, in my view, not acceptable and I immediately made that known to the prison authorities. Padded cells of the classic kind are the size of enlarged telephone booths, the walls are grey and there is a pilot light in the ceiling. In one of the cells I saw a prisoner, a man in his 40s, lying in his underpants in a foetal position on the floor with a pot beside him. The cell in question was approximately the size of an outsized refrigerator. That was unacceptable.
Unlike other Members of the House, however, I took action in respect of this matter.
What did the Minister do?
I immediately told the Irish Prison Service to commission new cells of this kind. We established an implementation group and six cells, based on two different designs, have been completed in Cloverhill Prison. I inspected these in the course of construction and I will visit them in the near future. I intend to roll out such cells across the Irish Prison Service.
Improvements to the cells include larger windows, doors with full-face observation windows, cell lighting as close to natural daylight as possible, a communication system, including a cell call system, a television, where possible, in-cell sanitation and other technical improvements in the materials used to finish the walls and to improve the quality of the mattresses, blankets and beds. That is what I have achieved and, just in case Members get active on this subject, their parties were all in office and those cells were all there when they held office, and I do not recall any of them lifting a finger to change them.
Is that all the Minister has done in two years? God help us, he set up a committee.
I am not as emotive as the Minister about this issue. However, everybody agrees these cells should not be used. A survey by the Irish Penal Reform Trust highlighted that 78% of people in the cells had a psychiatric condition. Does the Minister agree the restrictions he outlined, even for the new cells, which do not provide for environmental stimulation and socialisation, will create further difficulties and cause permanent psychiatric disability in certain circumstances, as research has found in the United States? Does he also agree confinement can result in mentally ill prisoners becoming totally confused, resulting in random violence, self-harm and suicidal behaviour? According to Dr. Smith of the Central Mental Hospital, using a padded cell to address psychiatric disability is a grotesque way of holding a human being. Does the Minister concur that the provision of isolation cells is totally unsuitable for mentally ill prisoners? They should be in a medical environment with proper psychiatric services. I accept the Minister set up a committee when he took up office but, given that 78% of people using those cells have a psychiatric condition, why was a psychiatrist not on the committee?
That is a good question. I thank the Deputy for recognising that I am the first Minister for Justice to tackle this scandal. I fully accept that putting people who are psychiatrically ill into an isolation cell where they are separated from all means of self-harm is not the appropriate medium or long-term solution, even if it is only for a matter of days. That is why I have been anxious to ensure people who become acutely psychiatrically ill, in circumstances where such facilities are appropriate to prevent them from harming themselves, are speedily transferred to proper forensic psychiatric care units in the Central Mental Hospital.
I am glad the Deputy referred to Dr. Smith in this respect. One of the problems is ensuring these cases are addressed in a speedy manner so that people are not left in the circumstances I have described for two or three days while psychiatrists argue about whether they are suitable for treatment in the hospital or elsewhere. The Central Mental Hospital and the Irish Prison Service should have a close working relationship so that people in these circumstances are dealt with in a matter of hours rather than days or weeks. Doctors can differ about the status of a psychiatrically ill person but the notion that the Irish Prison Service should be left in the intolerable position of holding him in an isolation cell while a dispute takes places over whether he is suitable for treatment in the Central Mental Hospital is wholly unacceptable.
When will psychiatric patients in prisons be treated in the same way as a prisoner suffering from a general medical condition? That should be the approach. A psychiatric prisoner should be treated in a similar fashion to a prisoner who has broken his leg. Is it acceptable that one prisoner who was depressed and mutilated himself should spend 25 out of 30 days in isolation?
I accept there should be the same standards of psychiatric care as ordinary medical care. Sometimes isolation does not involve a padded cell. The Central Mental Hospital should be located in buildings that can accommodate at short notice people who experience acute psychiatric illness episodes.
When?
I am talking to the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children about this matter. I appreciate the Deputy's impatience but his party was in office for many years and it did nothing about this.