The North's Human Rights Commission has issued a damning report into the detention of women and girls in the top security Maghaberry Prison in Co Antrim.
The report -" The Hurt Inside - the imprisonment of women and girls in Northern Ireland" - attacks "endemic failures" in the regime under which girls as young as 14 were held at Mourne House in the prison.
The Commission report called for an independent public inquiry into the regime at Mourne House, the deaths of two inmates in 2002 and 2004, and the circumstances in which prison officers were suspended and dismissed following allegations of "inappropriate conduct" with female inmates.
The report was commissioned by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission following the death in custody of a 19-year-old female prisoner in Mourne House in 2002 and publication of a highly critical Prisons Inspectorate report on the regime in 2003.
The authors, Professor Phil Scraton and Dr Linda Moore, said that when they inspected the prison, far from responding to the criticisms of the inspectors' report, the regime in Mourne House had "deteriorated significantly".
They said their research found "a regime in operation that neglected the identified needs of women and girl prisoners, lacked creative or constructive programmes to assist their personal social development, compromised their physical and mental health and that failed to meet minimum standards of a "duty of care".
They said there was no Prison Service policy statement, or strategy documentation addressing the particular needs of women and girls in prison, no dedicated governor responsible solely for the management of women in prison and no gender-specific training for prison management or officers.