Psychiatric support in Ireland’s prisons the focus for Committee on Future of Mental Health Care

Witnesses scheduled to speak starting at 1:30 p.m. in Committee Room 3, Leinster House, include:

• Deirdre Malone, executive director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust, an NGO that campaigns for prisoners’ rights and improved conditions;
• Michael Donnellan, director general of the Irish Prison Service with 12 institutions nationwide;
• Professor Harry Kennedy, clinical director of the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum; and
• Pat Bergin, director of the Oberstown Children Detention Campus north of Dublin accommodating sentenced and remanded teenagers.

“A prison is never an ideal environment for anyone suffering from mental illness, but clinical diagnosis, intervention and support should be available for any resident of a state-run detention facility,” said the Committee Chair, Senator Joan Freeman.

“The lack of strategic planning coupled with insufficient increases in future bed allocation will contribute to little or no improvement in mental health services in the prison population,” she said.

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