Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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Yes. They give a total breakdown of the people on restrictive regimes, which is the new term for solitary confinement. The hours are given, as are the reasons such as punishment, the protection of vulnerable prisoners - voluntary, and the protection of vulnerable prisoners - involuntary. Special observation is also a reason, but the Minister had a problem with this because it meant people with severe mental illnesses were being placed in closed supervision areas on a solitary basis. There are huge issues around people with mental health problems and some severely psychotic cases are not being cared for adequately in the Prison Service, although I am sure Michael Donnellan will deal with it. There is a plan to develop a unit in the midlands prison but it will only take small numbers and many of prisoners are in isolation because they have requested it themselves. They are afraid and feel at risk or they have other mental health issues.

The figures are very useful for answering some of the questions. Medical research states that the maximum period should be 15 days and that any more than that causes irreversible psychological damage to set in. We are trying to manage these cases while also managing the prison. We want to keep it to under 15 days but we also propose to exclude certain groups of vulnerable people from ever being placed on such a regime.

I take the point about disability and such an amendment would need to be adopted in a hurry. Deputy Chambers made a point about prisoners spending 19 hours in cells and I wanted to have a provision on this in the Bill but we thought it might not pass Second Stage. The IPRT figures give a breakdown of the figures and 19 hours is the figure in some areas. The Minister would probably make the argument that a maximum period would be more difficult to manage from an administrative point of view. If somebody spends 19 hours in a cell but gets five hours outside to have a great time and to socially interact, that would actually help but that is often not the case. That is why we propose a provision that there be meaningful human contact because people in solitary confinement are often let out for exercise but not allowed to talk to, or interact with, anybody. That is where the damage is being done. It is not a lack of exercise but a lack of meaningful human contact, sometimes for periods of years. All the best penal policy would have it that the more a person spends outside the cell the better it is, but this creates issues for prison management and, sadly, a lot of times this comes down to resources. People have to stay in cells because there are not enough staff. I would certainly be prepared to accept an amendment to 19 hours. I also take the point about disability and I believe we can work on the other issues.