The Irish Penal Reform Trust, has won the right to sue the State on behalf of prisoners with psychiatric problems. The trust is supporting their claims for damages for breaches of their constitutional rights.
Mr Justice Paul Gilligan handed down a reserved judgment yesterday declaring that the trust was entitled to represent mentally ill prisoners in legal proceedings against the State.
Two former inmates of Mountjoy Prison had also sought legal entitlement to sue the State for a number of reliefs.
The trust is a non-governmental organisation campaigning for the rights of people in prison and the reform of Irish penal policy.
This is thought to be the first time that an NGO has won the right to represent prisoners, and it could have far-reaching implication for the prison service and the Department of Justice.
A report published earlier this week found that a significant proportion of prisoners suffered from psychiatric problems, and that this was linked to homelessness. One in four of the 3,200 prison population was homeless on committal, and of these two-thirds had spent time in a psychiatric hospital and one-third was diagnosed with a mental illness.
Judge Gilligan said it was almost indisputable that prisoners with psychiatric problems were among the most vulnerable and disadvantaged members of society. Many were ignorant of their rights and might fear retribution if they challenged the authorities.
He felt claims could be more effectively litigated by the reform trust, which was in a position to identify and analyse systematic failings in the system.
Although a mentally ill prisoner might be theoretically capable of asserting his or her own constitutional rights, he was not satisfied they were in a position to adequately assert them. He said the reform trust had the expertise and financial ability necessary to mount an effective challenge to alleged systematic failings.
Judge Gilligan said the two prisoners involved in the application were people who suffered from psychiatric illness and both had been in Mountjoy men's prison.
The reform trust had been concerned for some time over what it saw as systematic deficiencies in the way such prisoners were treated in prison.
Research had revealed that 78 per cent of prisoners put into padded cells in solitary confinement had been found to be mentally ill. The trust believed the conditions in which such vulnerable prisoners were held was a matter of concern to the wider community.
It believed the conditions in Mountjoy had not complied with basic human rights standards.
The governor of Mountjoy and the Minister for Justice had filed a full defence to the prisoners' claims and argued that the trust did not as an entity have legal capacity or locus standi to maintain the proceedings on behalf of prisoners. The defendants also claimed the two prisoners had no standing to advance complaints about a failure to employ any qualified psychiatric nurses in prisons; or a failure to assess such prisoners on entry or place them in padded cells.
Mr Justice Gilligan said he did not accept the defence submission that the two prisoners' claims were limited to their own personal circumstances. They sought constitutional remedies for systematic deficiencies in the way prisoners with psychiatric problems were treated in Mountjoy.
If the two prisoners named in the proceedings were to be denied standing, no other plaintiff would be in a position to challenge alleged deficiencies because it would be limited to their own personal circumstances.