FIVE STATE REPORTS regarding deaths in prison custody released this week “highlight serious systemic failures”, according to the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT).

The reports, published by the Department of Justice, concern five deaths in prison custody between 2022 and 2024.

The deceased are identified only by their first initial. The reports examine the deaths of Messrs M, Q, H, N, and D, who were in custody in Mountjoy Prison, Midlands Prison, and Cloverhill Prison.

Two of the men died by suicide, one in Mountjoy Prison in 2023 and one in Midlands Prison in 2024. One man died as the result of a drug overdose in Mountjoy in 2024. 

One man, aged 79, became acutely unwell while detained in Cloverhill Prison and died in Tallaght Hospital in May 2024. Another man died in Cloverhill following “acute health deterioration and complex mental health needs” in February 2022.

The IPRT said while it welcomed the publication of the reports, “death in custody investigations should be prompt”. It said the prison service’s action plan should be developed urgently and the reports should be published as soon as possible to “avoid further distress to family members and to ensure lessons are learned”.

The five reports published this week highlight failings in “the State’s response to known and escalating risk in custody and in the ongoing use of prisons to detain people with serious mental health needs in inappropriate environments”, the IPRT said.

The IPRT’s executive director Saoirse Brady said the reports show “cracks in the system that continue to widen” and that it is the Trust’s view that many of the deaths could have been prevented. 

There has been an increase in deaths of people in prison custody. In 2024, the last year for which total data is available, 31 people died in custody. This was the highest number since 2012, when the Office of the Inspector of Prisons’ investigative role began.

The OIP has cited overcrowding, mental health pressures and gaps in the provision of healthcare as contributing factors. 

Brady added: “Combined with chronic gaps in mental health and addiction services, this creates a pressurised system which is failing people when they are in state care and at their most vulnerable.”

The IPRT said it has written to the Minister for Justice, Minister for Health, and the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health calling for the convening of a roundtable of relevant ministers, agencies, and advocates. 

It said this was needed to address the crisis in psychiatric care in prisons and to end the inappropriate use of prisons for people with serious mental health needs.

According to the IPRT, as of 20 February, Irish prisons were operating at 123% capacity, with 5,800 in prison custody with 542 people sleeping on mattresses on the floor.