The Inspector of Prisons Dermot Kinlen has called for the immediate closure of St Patrick's Institution and extra funding for the rehabilitation of prisoners.
In his annual report published today Mr Kinlen described the attitude of the Minister for Justice and his Department towards prisoners and the provision of prison services as "frightening and fascist".
Mr Kinlen added that the office of the Prisons Inspectorate should also be made totally independent abolished "since it is only a facade". He said the same recommendations are made every year but they are ignored by the Minister.
He warned that foreign nationals awaiting deportation or extradition should not be held in Cloverhill or any other prison. "They have not been sentenced, they do not deserve to be criminalised as all they wanted to do was share the 'Irish dream'. "Is this a crime? Surely a premises near the airport could be used to contain them before their departure."
Justice Kinlen also demanded sniffer dogs for Mountjoy Prison and said the service should be expanded elsewhere if found viable. Mr Kinlen said in his 53-page report that he wanted his office to be established as a statutory and independent unit and not controlled by the Justice Minister.
Also published today were the results of prison inspection reports following visits to the prisons last year. The report on Dublin's Mountjoy Prison found that prisoners are living in deplorable conditions.
The report said Mountjoy was under-staffed and overcrowded, often housing more than 400 inmates. It also recorded no in-cell sanitation in the main prison cells, with prisoners regularly sleeping on mattresses on the floors of the cells.
"This is deplorable in 2005," said the Mountjoy Prison Visiting Committee, who met 51 prisoners last year. There is an urgent need for extra staffing in the prison."
The damning review came following the death of a second inmate in the jail with a month. The Visiting Committee is an independent statutory watchdog on behalf of the public to supervise the treatment of prisoners.
Pressure was mounting on Justice Minister Michael McDowell as opposition parties called for a fresh enquiry into conditions at the prison. The 38-year-old was found hanging in a single cell early this morning after been moved for his own protection.
Gary Douch, 21, was beaten to death in a communal holding cell in front of other inmates just weeks ago. He had also been moved for his own protection.
"This is another example of the difficulties being experienced in Mountjoy, which have reached a peak in the last few months," said Fine Gael's justice spokesman Jim O'Keefe.
"Whereas the killing of Gary Douch was a direct result of overcrowding, this case seems to point to a gap in the facilities available in the prison.
"It must always be remembered that the state has a duty of care to protect all offenders in its penal institutions."
The Irish Prison Service confirmed the latest fatality was observed just half an hour before he was found hanging at 3.30am. Despite attempts to resuscitate him at the scene, he was pronounced dead at the nearby Mater Hospital shortly after 4am.
The man, who was not considered to be at risk of taking his own life, was involved in a small fight in the main jail yesterday evening. He had serving an 18-month sentence.