It is wholly unacceptable for people with serious mental health issues to be detained in prisons, the Director of the Prison Service has said.
Caron McCaffrey also accepted that overcrowding is a major problem, but said there has been a substantial increase in coercive control and sex offenders in the prison system.
She was speaking at the Prison Officers Association Annual Conference in Galway.
The association also says their members are not trained to deal with the mentally ill and these people should be in a care setting, not a custodial setting.
The Prison Service says a significant number of assaults in prisons are conducted by a small number of people with mental health issues.
Five staff were recently injured in an attack by a person suffering from mental health issues, three have not returned to work.
250 people a day receive treatment from the Forensic Mental Health Service in prison. Around 50% are engaging or waiting for psychologist, while 60% of those in custody have an emotional disorder.
The Director of the Prison Service says that 17 men and one woman are currently waiting in prison to be admitted to the Central Mental Hospital.
Four are so gravely unwell and suffering from psychosis that they must be "barrier handled" where only prison officers in full riot gear and shields can deal with them.
One man has been waiting two years to be admitted to the Central Mental Hospital.
Ms McCaffrey says that people who are mentally ill are put in penal custody because it is the safest place to bring them, but they really need to go to hospital.
She says there is a pilot project in Limerick where mental health specialists are working in garda stations to help identify and treat the mentally ill who come into contact with the criminal justice system.
The Prison Service also operates a National Violence Reduction Unit, which is currently full of prisoners who pose greatest risk to staff.
Sex Offenders and Coercive Control
The Prison Service has also recorded a significant increase in sex offenders over the past few years from 150 to 646, 15% of the current prison population. The offenders are also getting younger, with 22% now under 34.
Sex offenders must be detained in special units and separate prisons because of the danger to them from other inmates. The majority are currently serving sentences in Midlands Prison and Arbour Hill.
There has also been an increase in the number of people in prison for coercive control offences and breaches of barring orders. The director says these people are never considered for temporary release.
At present there are 25 full time psychologists, 14 assistant psychologists, 2 trainees employed in the Prison Service. Some are targeted around sex offenders who the Director says need to accept the nature and gravity of their offending and complete the programme.
Ms McCaffrey also says they are designing a new sex offender programme so that inmates can engage around the level of risk and are recruiting additional psychologists to deliver that programme.
A total of 1,398 prisoners are seeing or waiting to see a psychologist in relation to mental health, offending and addiction issues and the prison service must operate a triage system dealing with the most serious cases first.
Gangs and Overcrowding
The prison service detains criminal gangs in different prisons with members of the Hutch organised crime group in Wheatfield and the Kinahan organised crime group in Mountjoy.
Although the prisons are overcrowded and capacity currently at 104%, ordinary inmates cannot be accommodated on gangland wings.
A total of 150 prisoners are currently sleeping on mattresses and bunk beds have been put in single cells.
The director says she spoke to prisoners in Mountjoy and they expressed a preference for bunk beds rather than sleeping on mattresses on the floor.
There has also been "a huge increase" in remand prisoners, those who are awaiting trial. The figure has almost doubled in recent years from 450 to 800 remand prisoners today.
70% of people who come to prison do so for less than 12 months and the Prison Service is examining alternatives to custody, such as temporary release and community return for those serving low sentences.
"Prison is the sanction of last resort and candidates are assessed first," Ms McCaffrey said, adding tha t "they can always be called back to jail but that is rare".
The director says that vacant wings in Portlaoise are not an option because they are outdated and not fit for purpose. There is no in-cell sanitation, and they do not contain the appropriate services for prisoners.
It would be "incredibly costly" to refit these wings, she said.
However, she welcomed the minister's decision to refurbish other parts of other prisons, because she said a prison space costs €80,000 a year, much of this in staff and security costs.
A new prison needs staffing and security and capital and operational costs are much higher when building from the start, whereas these facilities are already present on an existing site.
Concealment of drugs
The Prison Service estimates that at least 40% of people admitted to prison have drugs concealed internally. This is based on surveys in similar jurisdictions.
70% of inmates have an active drug addiction and there has been "a huge increase in drugs in prison" post pandemic.
In Clover Hill, seven prisoners became seriously ill after they ingested drugs thrown in over the prison walls. Three were hospitalised, while one had to be intubated.
They appear to have consumed homemade benzodiazepines, which the Prison Service says were 10 times more potent than prescription drugs.
The director says they are looking at new technology to keep drugs out, such as an x-ray body scanner system which shows up drugs concealed internally.
Investment in diversion
Kathleen Lynch, Chair of the high-level taskforce on mental health and addiction in the criminal justice system, has said many people end up in prison as there "isn't an alternative".
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, she said there are things that can be done and the taskforce she chaired dealt with diversion and how people are treated in the prison system.
"We didn't look at just the criminal justice system, but the whole of society and how we deal with people who have difficulties with their mental health and addiction," Ms Lynch said.
She added that they looked at diversion and said a pilot programme is already in place in Limerick Prison, saying that one of the recommendations in the report was that it should be fully supported and that it would become a national project.
Molly Joyce, Acting Executive Director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust said that people with severe mental health issues should not end up in prison in the first place,
Speaking on the same programme, Ms Joyce called for investment in "diversion", which would allow gardaí to use their discretion to divert individuals suspected of non-violent, low-level offences away from the criminal justice system and towards mental health services.
This was included in recommendations made by the high-level taskforce on mental health and addiction in the criminal justice system.
"We would support, in particular, actions around diversion and investing in diversion at all phases of the criminal justice system, because for us, the key issue is people shouldn't end up in prison in the very first place," Ms Joyce said.
"We try and make sure that that doesn't happen in the future, and then they get the treatment they need earlier on."
