Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment reported that high-support units in Irish prisons that accommodate mentally ill prisoners offered poor conditions and inadequate treatment. Reading parts of this, one would be forgiven for thinking it was a report on Irish prisons from more than 100 years ago, but the committee only visited Irish prisons in September this year. The report stated that one mentally unwell man was found "lying naked in his cell, with the cell smeared with faeces and puddles of urine on the floor," with a urine-soaked poncho for cover. This is not only unacceptable; this is inhumane. I join the Irish Penal Reform Trust in asking when the Government will establish a task force to resolve this matter.

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