Female prisoners living in cramped conditions

Female prisoners held in Limerick Prison are living in cramped and claustrophobic conditions, sharing cells designed for single occupancy, the Inspector of Prisons has said.

There is also a serious problem with drugs in Limerick prison, which has led to gangland feuding, and the annualised hours introduced for prison officers has led to cutbacks in facilities for prisoners, he found.

He also called for an investigation into bullying and racism at Wheatfield Prison in Dublin.

In a report on Limerick Prison released yesterday, Justice Dermot Kinlen criticised the conditions in the female section of the prison, where 20 prisoners are held in 10 cells designed for single occupancy, describing them as "extremely small and cramped".

"Their facilities are limited with little work or other activities to occupy them, the fact that they are so cramped . . . leads to tension and frustration. The whole place is claustrophobic," he said.

He recommended a reduction in the number of women held there and said a new female prison for the Munster region should be considered.

He found that the influx of drugs to the prison, which houses 286 inmates, was of major concern and is causing disciplinary concerns as it leads to feuds, harassment, intimidation and crime bosses. This was affecting the whole regime of the prison.

He found that in the six months between January 1st, 2006 and June 16th, 2006, 250 prisoners were on disciplinary reports for breach of prison rules, including possession of drugs.

"The various ways and means that prisoners use to obtain the drugs is incredible," he said.

The report also found that annualised hours introduced to the prison in 2004 were not working satisfactorily, were leading to a shortfall in staff and in services to the prisoners.

"The introduction of annualised hours and the overtime cutbacks introduced in 2004 are having an adverse effect on the services and facilities for prisoners . . . it is disappointing that it is now happening," he said.

He also said staff sick leave "has well exceeded the daily average prior to the annualised hours commencing" and attributed this to difficulty in getting time off. "Management and prison service headquarters should examine this problem," he said. Annualised hours were also found to be causing problems at Wheatfield Prison. There were several examples where services to prisoners were definitely curtailed as a result of it, including cutbacks in workshops, education, censor office and library facilities. There were also 134 staff seeking transfer from the prison, which caters for 378 prisoners, at the time the inspection was carried out in April and May 2006.

Justice Kinlen said the most serious allegation raised by prisoners during his inspection of Wheatfield was that bullying, especially of foreign nationals, "is rife". The prisoners claimed that 70 to 75 per cent of prisoners had experienced bullying and that about 15 per cent of officers engage in it.