This inspection was carried out in February and March 2023, by a team including two international experts in forensic psychiatry. The provision of care was assessed in seven of the thirteen prisons in the State, and many of the Inspectorate’s recommendations refer to systemic issues arising across the prison estate.
The report presents pragmatic recommendations designed to directly address the factors that are currently undermining the quality of treatment, safety and dignity of prisoner-patients, including critically low numbers of specialist mental healthcare staff; inadequate environmental conditions in some prisons, including overcrowding and dilapidation; deficiencies in mental health treatment in prison, as well as a gross lack of system-wide clinical care pathways to access necessary treatment outside prison, including in the Central Mental Hospital.