He found that ongoing overcrowding and poor healthcare had contributed to a 50 per cent increase in prison deaths last year. He described conditions – which require many prisoners to sleep on mattresses – as unacceptable, inhumane and degrading. The prison system is currently at 120 per of capacity and around 500 of the 5,628 inmates are sleeping on floors. The blame cannot be put on the Irish Prison Service (IPS) , according to Kelly. The two minsters no doubt highlighted the commitments made in the budget to address prison overcrowding when they met the CPT.
