Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 28 April 2022

Public Accounts Committee

2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 24 - Justice
Vote 21 - Prisons

9:30 am

Ms Caron McCaffrey:

As have prisoners. To pick up on a point made by Deputy Carroll MacNeill, we are completely cognisant of the impact that success has had on prisoners. Mr. Black and I, and all of the decision makers, met a group of prisoners in our progression unit on Monday - our Red Cross volunteers - who had done a survey to help us better understand the impact of isolation and quarantine on them. We took that away to make sure we have the learnings for the future, but also to look at what we can do now to support people with their mental health. We are looking at group psychology sessions to support people because of the impact of isolation and quarantine, which were absolutely necessary in the context of Covid outbreaks within the prisons but which, regrettably, were quite impactful on people. We are very attuned to that.