Prison Service

Wednesday, 19 April 2023

Questions (85, 86)

Ivana Bacik

Question:

85. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Justice the number of slop-out cases and in-cell sanitation cases taken by prisoners and former prisoners. [18420/23]

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86. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Justice the number of slop out cases and in cell sanitation cases taken by prisoners and former prisoners where they were legally represented. [18421/23]

View answer

Written answers

Minister for Justice

I propose to take Questions Nos. 85 and 86 together.

I have sought the information requested by the Deputy from the Irish Prison Service, however, the information was not available in time. I will write to the Deputy once the information is to hand.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51.

I refer to Parliamentary Questions 85 & 86 for written reply on 19th April 2023 requesting the number of slop out cases and in cell sanitation cases taken by prisoners and former prisoners and the number of slop out cases and in cell sanitation cases taken by prisoners and former prisoners where they were legally represented.

As you will recall, the information you requested was not readily available at that time and an undertaking was given to respond to you as soon as possible with the relevant information. Please find a response to your questions provided below.

You will be aware that the Irish Prison Service has committed to the elimination of the practice referred colloquially as ‘slopping out’, through the provision of in cell sanitation in the older parts of the prison estate where that practice remained.

A number of major capital projects have been undertaken over the years with the primary objective of eliminating ‘slopping out’ as well as upgrading the cellular accommodation in those prisons.

A major refurbishment of Mountjoy Prison was completed in 2014 which included the provision of in cell sanitation and upgrade of the accommodation and in 2016 a new purpose designed modern prison opened in Cork, replacing the old prison facility.

Slopping out was ended in Limerick Prison, at the beginning of this year, with the completion of a project to deliver new accommodation at that location.

As a result there are only 8 prisoners, accommodated in the Portlaoise Prison E Block who do not have access to toilet facilities in their cell and must "slop out" on a daily basis.

The Deputy may be aware that the Irish Prison Service has been completing engineering surveys on the E Block to explore the options of providing in-cell sanitation along with other work to upgrade the cellular accommodation having regard to the age and fabric of the building.

Works on the construction of a sample cell at E Block have taken place and the outcome of these works has been examined to determine the feasibility of installing in-cell sanitation to the Block. Given the historical nature and condition of the building, the low and reducing number of prisoners accommodated in that particular Block, and the likely scale of costs involved it is now considered not feasible to provide in-cell sanitation throughout that particular block.

I wish to inform the Deputy that the State Claims Agency have the delegation to manage claims on behalf of the Irish Prison Service in relation to “lack of in-cell sanitation”.

The State Claims Agency have advised the information provided by them was extracted from the National Incident Management System (NIMS).

The Supreme Court judgment in the lead lack of in-cell sanitation facilities claim, Gary Simpson v The Governor of Mountjoy Prison & Others, was delivered on 14 November 2019 and the Supreme Court found that the plaintiff should be paid compensatory damages of €7,500. Having regard to this judgment, the SCA devised a scheme of settlement in January 2020 with a view to minimising the involvement of the Courts in other claims which similarly arose from the lack of in cell sanitation facilities. Under the terms of the scheme, offers of damages and measured legal costs are being made to qualifying claimants and plaintiffs.

As of 31 March 2023, a total of 3,258 claims have been received by the State Claims Agency in relation to the lack of in-cell sanitation, 2,794 of these claims were associated with the Simpson case.

Prisoners and former prisoners were legally represented in 3,223 of the total claims and 2,762 of the claims associated with the Simpson case.

Question No. 86 answered with Question No. 85.