Mr. John Clinton:

Solitary confinement, in the context in which Dr. Shalev pointed to it, is not widely used in the Irish prison system. In our view, there appears to be some confusion between a person who has asked to go on protection and a person in solitary confinement. If one checks the numbers with the Prison Service, I am sure they will show that the vast majority of people on restricted regimes are on them because they requested to go on them for their own protection. There will be a small number of prisoners the governor may have decided to put on restricted regimes after they have been risk assessed and found to be a danger to other prisoners or staff or even themselves to the extent that they must be watched constantly. However, the vast majority of people on restricted regimes have gone on them at their own request for protection and, to us, this is very different from the use of solitary confinement as a tool within a prison system. We do not support solitary confinement as a tool within a prison system. This is a very practical approach. Solitary confinement poses resource issues. It is not the best way for a prison officer to deal with a person with whom they work every day of the week. This is the context in which we are talking about it.