The number of male prisoners in Mountjoy prison has not fallen below 700 since Christmas, according to the governor, Mr John Lonergan. The men's prison was built to hold 500 people. The overcrowding crisis in the State's largest prison reached its height on Wednesday morning when there were 774 male prisoners - the largest number recorded - and 60 women.
There were just over 750 male prisoners in Mountjoy yesterday morning. "The numbers are extraordinarily high and are persistently high and they don't seem to be coming down," Mr Lonergan said.
Up to eight prisoners are sleeping on mattresses on the floors of rooms. The holding cells in the basement, where prisoners are supposed to sit waiting for a cell allocation, are being used to hold up to 20 prisoners sleeping on mattresses. Prison sources have described the holding cells as the worst place for a first-time prisoner to spend a night in prison.
In response to a report in The Irish Times, the detention of a disturbed woman prisoner in a padded cell was described as "a horror story with echoes of the Victorian era" by the Democratic Left spokeswoman on Health, Ms Liz McManus.
Ms McManus said it was "an outrage that a woman so clearly in need of treatment should be held in such conditions for so long".
The woman, in her mid-50s, was convicted of trespass with intent to steal at St James's Hospital in Dublin and given a six-month sentence earlier this month. She has been on remand in Mountjoy since February 23rd and has spent the past 20 days in a padded cell. A prison source said the woman was extremely disturbed and a prison doctor has recommended that she should be transferred immediately to the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum. However, the Eastern Health Board says there is no room for the woman in Dundrum. "The Ministers for Justice and Health must act immediately to ensure that the woman is transferred to an appropriate medical environment where she can receive treatment," Ms McManus said.
"Structures must be put in place to ensure that such a situation must never be allowed to happen again."
