On 19 April Minister for Justice Alan Shatter announced that any death of a prisoner in the custody of the Irish Prison Service will be the subject of an independent investigation and that the resulting reports will be made public. However the Irish Penal Reform Trust has said it has reservations that the proposal will not satisfy all the requirements of Article 2 (the right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The IPRT has identified four areas which will be determinative in assessing whether Ireland is fulfilling its obligations under the ECHR - legal powers, involvement of families, speed of investigation and public accountability. IPRT’s Position Paper 7: Complaints, Monitoring and Inspection in Prisons sets out necessary elements of independent investigations, including independence and promptness.
Liam Herrick, Executive Director of the IPRT stated that, “(t)he need for independent investigation of all deaths in custody has been a campaigning priority for IPRT for many years and we warmly welcome the public acceptance today by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence of the principle of independent investigation. This represents a major step in bringing our prison system into compliance with international human rights standards…However, only when the proposed system is operational will we be able to assess whether it meets the standards of independence required by the European Convention on Human Rights in practice…It is essential that a legislative framework is put in place to support this investigative function of the Inspector of Prisons”.
Click here to read the IPRT’s Position Paper.
Click here to read an article from the Irish Times.