The impact of overcrowding at Mountjoy Jail on the physical and mental health needs of prisoners needs “urgent consideration” by the authorities, according to an official oversight body. It said overcrowding means that many cells are now double occupancy, although “only designed for single occupancy”. But it said it received prisoner complaints in the main A and B wings of “wet cell walls, of cold cells, of broken toilets, of leaking sinks and of unhygienic conditions”. Bunkbeds to accomodate a second prisoner in what shoud be a single cell in Mountjoy Prison. On the impact of overcrowding, the report said: “Prisoners spoke of the risk of resorting to substance abuse to alleviate isolation and depression.

Source: Irish Examiner January 13, 2026 18:20 UTC