Republican Sinn Fein has called for the immediate release of Josephine Hayden, a prisoner in Limerick jail who suffered a heart attack last month.
A party spokesman said Hayden was moved back to prison a week later and was being kept in appalling conditions.
"Her cell is on the third floor and she is forced to walk up and down flights of stairs in prison. "Her cardiologist in Limerick Regional Hospital said that climbing stairs would be extremely dangerous and that she needed to be on the ground floor."
The spokesman said the authorities should allow Hayden to return to hospital. "She has been rushed back to prison ahead of her complete recovery.
He said Hayden was being kept in virtual isolation and had no access to proper sanitary facilities. Unlike other women prisoners from Dublin, she was being denied visits with her children in the city.
Hayden has served two years of a six year sentence for arms possession.