Oversight of Prison Conditions and Investigations of Deaths in Custody: International Human Rights Standards and the Practice in Ireland
| Published date | 01 March 2011 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032885510389562 |
| Date | 01 March 2011 |
| Author | Agnieszka Martynowicz |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
389562MartynowiczThe Prison Journal
© 2011 SAGE Publications
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Article
The Prison Journal
91(1) 81 –102
Oversight of Prison
© 2011 SAGE Publications
Reprints and permission:
Conditions and
sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0032885510389562
http://tpj.sagepub.com
Investigations of
Deaths in Custody:
International Human
Rights Standards and
the Practice in Ireland
Agnieszka Martynowicz1
Abstract
This article examines the mechanisms currently available in Ireland for the
oversight of prison conditions and investigation of deaths in custody. It
further analyses those against international human rights standards. The
establishment of appropriate oversight and investigative mechanisms is
increasingly important in the context of the deteriorating conditions in Irish
prisons that have been regularly criticized by international bodies such as the
European Committee for the Prevention of Torture. This article concludes
that some significant reforms are needed in Ireland to ensure effective pro-
tection of prisoners’ rights.
Keywords
prisons, oversight, inspection, deaths in custody, international human rights,
prisoner ombudsman
1Irish Penal Reform Trust, Dublin, Ireland
Corresponding author:
Agnieszka Martynowicz, Irish Penal Reform Trust, 4th Floor Equity House, 16-17 Upper
Ormond Quay, Dublin, Ireland
Email: agnieszka.martynowicz@nihrc.org
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The Prison Journal 91(1)
Introduction
The prison population in Ireland is on the rise, with the number of prisoners
in the State doubling in recent years. Despite the significant expansion of the
prison estate in this same period, the system experiences chronic overcrowding
and the physical conditions, as well as regimes in many prisons, remain poor.
Regular independent oversight of prisons is one of the fundamental princi-
ples of human rights-compliant prison policy. At a time when the prison
system is under chronic pressure, such oversight is even more important to
ensure that the rights of those in the custody of the State are effectively pro-
tected. In Ireland, despite some encouraging developments in this area, the
system of independent oversight of prisons remains underdeveloped. This
situation impacts negatively on the protection of prisoners’ rights and often
leaves prisons beyond the reach of external independent mechanisms to
ensure transparency of State practices. The lack of such system is most
acutely noticeable in cases of deaths in custody where currently there is no
mechanism to investigate systemic issues that may have contributed to the
death. Lessons from violent incidents that apply to prison practice are there-
fore potentially lost.
The first section of this article briefly describes the current situation in
Irish prisons, providing a background to the analysis of available oversight
mechanisms. Next is a more detailed analysis of such mechanisms in the
context of international human rights standards, including those pertaining to
investigations of deaths in custody. The argument is that existing systems of
prison oversight and investigation of deaths are not fully compliant with
international human rights obligations. The article concludes that there is an
urgent need in Ireland for the establishment of an Office of Prisoner Ombudsman
(or a similar dedicated body), with a goal of investigating individual com-
plaints from prisoners, as well as deaths in prison custody, to bring such
system into compliance.
Imprisonment in Ireland:
Policy and Prison Conditions
Imprisonment in Ireland—Facts and Figures
The daily prison population in Ireland has more than doubled in the last
20 years, from 2,100 prisoners in 1990 to more than 4,300 in June 2010, and
continues to grow. The same increased by more than 400 prisoners between
June 2009 and June 2010 alone, bringing the rate of imprisonment up to
97 per 100,000.1 In addition, nearly 950 people were on Temporary Release
Martynowicz
83
(TR) in the community in June 2010 (The Irish Times, June 21, 2010). This
adds up to more than 5,200 people who are subject to custodial sanctions.
Ireland also continues to have a very high rate of committals to prison.
More than 13,500 people were committed to prison in 2008 (Irish Prison
Service, 2009), up from 11,934 in 2007 (Irish Prison Service, 2008). Nearly
80% of committals are for sentences less than 12 months, with 60% for less
than 6 months (Martynowicz and Quigley, 2010).
The continuous increase in the prison population occurs in the context of
significant expansion of the prison estate with the building of 1,720 new
prison places since 19972 and a further planned expansion with the building
of new prisons at Thornton Hall in Dublin and Kilworth near Cork (Irish
Prison Service, 2009). The expansion significantly increases the cost to the
State, and has not to date resulted in improved conditions, or indeed resolved
overcrowding in the system.
Cost of Imprisonment and Reimprisonment Rates
Imprisonment in Ireland is the most expensive in Europe. One prison place
costs on average €92,717 per year (Irish Prison Service, 2009). This cost
does not necessarily translate into high-quality facilities with provision of
top-level rehabilitative services. In many of the prisons, the opposite is true.
The Irish prison system is chronically overcrowded and the prisons as well
as service providers from outside agencies in the statutory and voluntary
sector struggle to engage with the majority of prisoners in a meaningful
way, despite marked improvements in service provision in recent years
(Martynowicz & Quigley, 2010). One of the effects of this failing prison
policy is the high rate of reimprisonment, with nearly 50% being reimpris-
oned within 4 years (O’Donnell, Palmer and Hughes, 2008). Provision of
support is also made more difficult by the prevailing physical conditions in
many of the facilities.
Conditions in Irish prisons
The number of prisoners in Ireland almost permanently now exceeds the
number of available prison places. On June 25, 2010, the number of prisoners
in custody was 4,317.3 On the same day, the reported “bed capacity” of the
prison estate in Ireland was 4,066 spaces. However, official “bed capacity”
figures, achieved by “doubling-up” of prisoners in cells designed for single
occupancy, hide the fact that the design capacity of the prisons is signifi-
cantly smaller. Throughout 2008, almost half of the 14 Irish prisons operated
above their bed capacity, with the Dóchas Centre (women’s prison in Dublin)
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The Prison Journal 91(1)
operating at 122% and Mountjoy Prison (male) at 109% (Irish Prison Service,
2009). This meant accommodating prisoners in areas such as prison showers
(Inspector of Prisons, 2009b). The physical conditions in prisons in Ireland,
as well as poor regimes prevailing in the system, have been subject to a long-
standing criticism by international and national monitoring bodies. Following
its visit to Ireland in 1998, the European Committee for the Prevention of
Torture, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (the CPT) expressed the view that
it was “unlikely that providing additional accommodation will alone provide
a lasting solution to the problem of overcrowding” (CPT, 2000). At the time,
the CPT called on the Irish authorities to put in place a multifaceted strategy
to address prison overcrowding.
Following its visits in 2002 and in 2006, the CPT again noted the ongoing
overcrowding and also commented on the fact that the operational “bed
capacity” of the system was being inflated far above its design capacity (CPT,
2003, 2007). Reference was made to poor material conditions that exacerbate
the problems faced by prisoners and staff alike, including lack of access to
meaningful activity and available services. Far from improving, the over-
crowding problem became more acute since the last CPT visit, with all 14
establishments running well above the design, as well as above the opera-
tional “bed capacity.” It can, therefore, be expected that the CPT will again
raise this issue in their report following a visit to Ireland in January 2010.
Overcrowding and poor physical conditions have also been subject to a
long-standing criticism nationally. In his Annual Report for 2008, the
Inspector of Prisons assessed the physical conditions resulting not only from
overcrowding but also from lack of adequate sanitary facilities as “inhuman
and degrading” (Inspector of Prisons, 2009b). In the more detailed report on
Mountjoy Prison in 2009, of particular concern were his findings regarding
holding large number of prisoners in the reception area of the prison (Inspector
of Prisons, 2009e). Not only were the conditions in these cells found to be
grossly inadequate (lack of drinking water, dirty and limited toilet facilities),
they were also potentially dangerous to prisoners due to the limited opportu-
nity for observation into the cells. Considering the high levels of violence in
Irish prisons, this is of real concern.
Violence in Irish prisons
In 2006, the CPT was very disturbed about the high levels of interprisoner
violence in prisons, describing the situation in three of them as “unsafe”
(CPT, 2007). The CPT noted the death of Gary Douch in Mountjoy Prison
in August, 2006 (see below) and linked it directly to the lack of safety in
the establishment as well as to the failure to conduct individualized risk
Martynowicz
85
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