Almost four in five prisoners held in padded cells are mentally ill, according to a highly critical report. It says solitary confinement is being used scandalously as a substitute for medical care.
Some disturbed prisoners held in padded cells have resorted to eating paint off the walls, while others have claimed to have been kept naked for days, according to the research by the Irish Penal Reform Trust.
The report on the use of padded cells in recent months in Mountjoy, Cork and Limerick prisons found prisoners being held for up to 18 days in cells described as dreary and smelly.
The cells, also known as strip cells if they are not padded, have sealed windows and contain only a mattress and a blanket. Prisoners are usually locked up for 23 hours a day.
"Out of Mind, Out of Sight" says many of the cells are dank and dark and few do not even have a call button. In one prison mentally-ill inmates have to shout through a heating vent to other prisoners to call an officer. Some of the cells have slopping out buckets and prisoners are allowed to wear only underpants or nightdresses.
At the report's publication yesterday, Dr Valerie Bresnihan from the trust called for the abolition of strip cells and their replacement by well-lit observation wards.
"There's plenty of evidence that says padded cells make sick people sicker, and sick people should be treated with medicines, not punished further," she said.
The report examined 224 entries into the cells and found 78 per cent of the inmates were mentally ill. "To use these cells as a substitute for appropriate medical and paramedical services is scandalous. Most of all it is an absolute denial of human rights," it states.
Mr Sean Aylward, the director general of the Irish Prisons Service, described the tone of the report as "over the top". He said the use of padded cells was always a "reluctant and temporary expedient where someone is at immediate risk.
"We have a duty laid down by the courts to hold the person and it could be the middle of the night and they are freaking and hitting their head off the walls or threatening to kill themselves and we have to have a system to deal with that."
Mr Aylward said prisoners were checked at least every 15 minutes by a prison officer either talking through the peephole or entering the cell.
Regarding the report's findings that some prisoners spent prolonged periods in the cells, Mr Aylward said these were extreme examples relating to people on waiting lists for the Central Mental Hospital. This was "greatly regretted" and the hospital was finalising a review of its operations, he added.