Leinster Express: 'Slopping out' to continue in Portlaoise Prison despite prison funding allocation

6th April 2024

On 6 April 2024, the Leinster Express reported that despite allocating €49.5 million up to 2026 for work to help provide ‘dignity of care’ in prisons, the practice of slopping out looks set to continue in Portlaoise Prison. 

Slopping out, an inhumane and degrading practice where people in prison have to manually empty their human waste from a container, is an archaic feature of the prison estate.

Given the impact of slopping out on the rights and dignity of people in custody and prison staff, the practice should be abolished without further delay.

While there has been a welcome decrease in slopping out over the last few years, worryingly, there has been an increase in the number of people toileting in the presence of another, likely due to overcrowding in cells.
 

• Read the full article on the Leinster Express.