{"id":217443,"date":"2025-12-30T04:19:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T04:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/217443\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T04:19:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T04:19:11","slug":"cockroaches-cold-cells-wet-walls-broken-toilets-among-mountjoy-inmates-complaints-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/217443\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Cockroaches, cold cells, wet walls, broken toilets\u2019 among Mountjoy inmates\u2019 complaints \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mountjoy Prison<\/a> inmates lodged complaints last year about the unavailability of gluten-free food, having mash with every meal, cockroaches in a cell and clothes shrunk from the laundry, a report shows.<\/p>\n

The annual report of the Mountjoy Prison Visiting Committee (MPVC) for 2024 highlighted the overcrowding situation. It said staff shortages and the strain put on the system by having up to 35 per cent of the prisoners on protected status contributed to the overcrowding problem. <\/p>\n

In a 27-page report submitted to Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan<\/a>, the committee said the situation is worsening, with numbers in custody at 118 per cent of capacity at the end of last year. <\/p>\n

It recommended that the Irish Prison Service<\/a> (IPS) should address \u201cthe poor and often degrading prison conditions\u201d, including overcrowding leading to men having to use the toilet in front of one another in their cells.<\/p>\n

The report noted that in many cells one prisoner has to sleep on a mattress on the floor \u2013 either with his head beside the base of the cell toilet, or by the entrance where he is in danger of being hit by the door if it has to be opened urgently. <\/p>\n

In its report, the committee said doubled-up cells, where two men are kept in a space designed for one man, are \u201ca very degrading and unhygienic environment for both men\u201d.<\/p>\n

The committee said many prisoners are continuing to live in poor conditions in certain parts of the prison. \u201cWe have received complaints of wet cell walls, of cold cells, of broken toilets, of leaking sinks and of unhygienic conditions,\u201d the report said. <\/p>\n

The overcrowding situation has worsened further in 2025, with the latest IPS statistics showing numbers in custody at 136 per cent of capacity on December 24th, including 178 prisoners sleeping on cell mattresses.<\/p>\n

The MPVC said the number of complaints it received in 2024 increased by 46 per cent to 373 on the 256 complaints received the previous year. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018It has changed my whole life\u2019: How \u2018listeners\u2019 in Wheatfield Prison support fellow inmatesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The most complaints (45) concerned accommodation, while 44 complaints related to visiting issues. The MPVC received 26 complaints from inmates concerning TV channels, arising mainly from loss of various channels from in-cell TVs.<\/p>\n

The committee received eight complaints concerning prison food, including one that noted \u201cmash with every meal, gluten-free food not available, no healthy breakfast option and chicken served too often\u201d.<\/p>\n

The same number of complaints were made concerning the prison laundry, including \u201cclothes shrunk from laundry or returned with burn marks\u201d. <\/p>\n

On the issue of hygiene, five complaints were made and included cockroaches in a cell. Another concerned a \u201cdead pigeon on window ledge of cells\u201d.<\/p>\n

The report said about a third of all prisoners at Mountjoy were under a restrictive regime last year for safety reasons. The majority of those prisoners spent 21 to 22 hours per day in their cell for their own protection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mountjoy Prison inmates lodged complaints last year about the unavailability of gluten-free food, having mash with every meal,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,11183,18573,89406,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-217443","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-irish-prison-service","10":"tag-jim-ocallaghan","11":"tag-mountjoy-prison","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}