Irish Examiner: Why prison is no place for the mentally ill

23rd September 2024

On 23 September 2024, Ann Murphy of the Irish Examiner wrote about the recent prison visiting committee annual reports, Mental Health Reform's report on mental health in prisons and Irish Penal Reform Trust's comments on progress on the High Level Taskforce on the mental health and addiction challenges of persons interacting with the criminal justice system, and our pre-Budget submission for Budget 2025.

• Read the full Irish Examiner article titled 'Why prison is no place for the mentally ill

Executive director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust Saoirse Brady said that when the taskforce published its report in 2022, “it was published in the same week as Budget 2023 yet its recommendations were not costed”.

“While we have seen some progress, with a number of key initiatives started, many of those short-term recommendations have not yet been completed.” 

In its pre-budget submission, the IPRT has identified a number of short-term goals under the taskforce’s radar, including allocating an additional €1.4m to provide ring-fenced funding to the IPS to recruit the minimum number of psychologists required, based on current prison population. It also wants the expansion of the Psychiatric In-Reach and Court Liaison Service model “which between 2006 and 2023 has successfully diverted nearly 2,000 people from prison”.