Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 September 2022
1392. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice the number of persons on remand in the Irish Prison Service that are permanently in solitary confinement over the past five years to date; the number of persons placed in solitary confinement on a temporary basis over the same time period; and the reason for and duration of same in tabular form. [42709/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy will be aware there are a number of reasons for the restriction to a person’s regime while in custody. This includes for safety or protection reasons, on the grounds of order and to protect the prison population from the spread of infection, including Covid-19.
My Department has taken steps to bring the Irish prison system into line with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (known as ‘Mandela Rules’) in respect of solitary confinement. This included the introduction of Statutory Instrument 276 of 2017 which amended rule 27 of the Prison Rules 2007 and which provides a statutory entitlement to prisoners for a minimum of two hours out-of-cell time daily. Therefore, all prisoners have a right, save in exceptional circumstances, to a minimum of two hours out of their cell with an opportunity for meaningful human contact.
This Statutory Instrument is implemented through the Irish Prison Service Policy on the Elimination of Solitary Confinement, which is publicly available on their website.
On occasion, it is necessary for vulnerable prisoners and others to be separated from the general prison population. This is provided for under Rule 63 of the Prison Rules 2007. A prisoner may, either at his/her own request or when the Governor considers it necessary, in so far as is practicable and subject to the maintenance and good order and safe and secure custody, be kept separate from other prisoners who are reasonably likely to cause significant harm to him/her.
In addition, under Rule 62 of the Prison Rules 2007 a Governor may decide, for the maintenance of good order in the prison, to remove a prisoner from general association or structured activity to reduce the negative effect that a prisoner or prisoners may have on the general population. Further a smaller number of prisoners may have their regimes restricted for medical (Rule 64) or discipline reasons (Rule 67).
Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, a number of measures were introduced by the Irish Prison Service in order to protect our prison population including the use of quarantine for new committals and isolation of suspected cases of Covid-19. These measures were introduced in line with Public Health advice and have resulted in an increase in the number of prisoners whose regime has been temporarily restricted. The Deputy will appreciate that, for obvious medical and infection control reasons, those prisoners suspected of infection are placed on a more restrictive form of regime while the testing process is completed.
All prisoners newly committed to prison are placed in quarantine until they return a negative Covid-19 test before being transferred into general population. This measure is in place in order to reduce the risk that a new committal, who might be incubating the virus, could spread Covid-19 into the general prison population. Furthermore, any prisoner who informs staff that they are experiencing symptoms of Covid-19 is immediately assessed by prison healthcare staff who arrange for the prisoner to be isolated and tested. A prisoner who shares a cell with a positive case is placed in quarantine, an antigen test is taken on day 5 and the prisoner is returned to general population on receipt of a negative result. All other identified close contacts remain in the general population however antigen tests are taken on day 1, 3 and 5, these prisoners are actively monitored for the development of symptoms during this period.
It is important to note that prisoners who are in isolation and quarantine continue to have access to a wide range of services and facilities within the prison including phone calls, psychology supports, tuck shop, chaplaincy services and television and I am advised that particular efforts are being made to ensure that prisoners can communicate with their families, through increased provision of telephone services.
The Prison Rules 2007 also provide that the imposition of a restricted regime is closely monitored by the Irish Prison Service and the status of each prisoner on restricted regime within the prison system is regularly reviewed.
I can also advise the Deputy that the Irish Prison Service gathers information on the regime of prisoners in a quarterly census which is carried out in January, April, July and October each year. The information is collated and published on the Irish Prison Service website.
I regret that the information in relation to the number of remand prisoners who were placed on a restricted regime over the past five years is not currently collated as part of the quarterly census. Currently, the census returns do not differentiate between remand and sentenced prisoners and to retrospectively provide this information for the five-year period requested would require a disproportionate amount of staff time and resources, and would be extremely onerous to compile.
However, I am advised by the Irish Prison Service that they will begin differentiating between remand and sentence prisoners as part of the October 2022 Census and will provide this information in all future Census Reports.
The information requested by the Deputy in respect of the number of persons placed in solitary confinement on a temporary basis over the past five years, the reason for and duration of same are provided in the tables attached.
