Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. The treatment of prisoners and their families is a measure of how civilised a society is and historically we know that what happened in prisons in Ireland certainly impacted on wider society. There was mention of strip searching. I have talked to prisoners who were totally isolated, kept in sterile areas and had no real contact with the public but yet they were strip searched on a regular basis. I talked to some prisoners in the past who were in prison in England who were strip searched three, four or five times a days and they would have had no contact with the general public. There was a view that strip searching was used to degrade and to break those prisoners. The fact that strip searching is still being carried out in sterile areas of a jail does not add up. It is uncivilised and degrading for a person to have to undergo that. Modern technology can overcome the need for it but it is not being used throughout the prison system. We know from our experience of going through airport security that physical barriers have been introduced where people are searched. I cannot understood why strip searching is being used in the prisons and it is not only in the North that it is being used.

Ms McCabe mentioned that this is related to there being a big drug problem but historically there would not have been a huge drug problem on republican wings, of which I was ever aware, yet strip searches are being carried out on those prison wings. Does Ms McCabe's office have a view on the use of strip searches and their effectiveness? What has been found from strip searching prisoners, particularly those on the loyalist and republican wings? What has been found in recent years on foot of strip searches? Is it known how many strip searches are carried out? Are there statistics?

Many of us want to bring about change. Change has taken place in the courts, the police service, Ms McCabe's office, the probation service and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions but the last bastion when it comes to change seems to be the prison service. The lack of such change has a huge impact not only on the prisoners but on their families who have to go to the prison to visit them.

Ms McCabe mentioned overcrowding. Is her office concerned about overcrowding, particularly in the republican and loyalist wings as she mentioned that cells are being shared? Has Ms McCabe expressed a view on the difficulties that are possibly coming down the track in this regard?

With regard to those prisoners who are isolated, as in the case of Marian Price who is totally isolated, her only exercise is walking down a corridor. She has no access to an outdoor area or to the sun, rain or snow. She is isolated because she is a special case because of her medical condition. The fact that in this day and age we can still isolate people in this way, people who are seriously ill, says a lot about the society that allows that to happen.