Dr. Pauline Conroy:

There is a worry about an imprecision as to what is a place of detention. If, for example, you take a Garda van that is moving a prisoner from one place to another, one has an image of something moving through traffic. However, that is not always what happens. A van can arrive at an airport or port and then stop with the prisoners inside. In law those prisoners can be detained there for up to 12 hours. I would not fancy being in one of those vans for 12 hours.

Second, there is a different type of problem to which the Mental Health Commission has referred, namely when is a detainee a patient, and when is a detainee a detainee? I have visited many centres for people with a disability where the entire building, contrary to fire regulations, is locked permanently, and any visitor cannot get out. They have to ask permission to leave. I have also visited many centres inside hospitals designated for the treatment of people with severe and enduring mental illness. Unfortunately, those people do not benefit from prison rules. Prison rules provide a standard that gives prisoners better conditions than those detained on hospital wards. It gives them a right be out of their environment, a right to fresh air and a right to wear their own clothes. Many rights in prison rules do not apply to patients held in mental health facilities designated for holding persons against their will.