Prisoners made more than 900 formal complaints last year including over 80 relating to assault, ill-treatment, racial discrimination, or intimidation.
The Irish Prison Service said they had received 84 Category A complaints last year, which deal with the most serious of allegations.
More than a third of those – or thirty individual complaints – related to a single prison, Cloverhill Remand Prison in West Dublin There were a further 17 Category A complaints at the Midlands Prison in Co Laois, and nine from the high-security jail at Portlaoise.
The Irish Prison Service said they had received 554 Category C complaints from prisoners last year, which relate to “basic service level” issues.
These can include issues around visits, phone calls, missing clothes, not getting post, or not getting enough time to exercise.
The highest number of these type of complaints were made at Wheatfield Prison (161) in West Dublin and at Mountjoy Prison (129).
There were another 154 Category D complaints made in 2021 with the highest numbers at the Midlands and Cloverhill Prisons.
The Irish Prison Service said these were complaints made about professionals, which could include medical personnel or financial or legal representation.
There were fourteen Category E complaints logged last year, with eight of those relating to a single jail, Mountjoy Prison.
This type of complaint comes from outside visitors to jails, for example those visiting family, or legal representatives meeting clients.
The Irish Prison Service also logged three Category F complaints, two at Castlerea Prison and one at Mountjoy.
They said these were complaints made about decisions made in headquarters in relation to for example, the granting of temporary release or a prison transfer.
There were also 133 Category B complaints which the Irish Prison Service described as “of a less serious nature, and not falling within any other category”.
The prisons with the highest number of these complaints were Cloverhill (46), Mountjoy Prison (26), and the Midlands Prison (22).
Overall, 942 formal complaints were filed last year with 207 – or almost 22% of them – relating to Wheatfield Prison.
There were also significant levels of complaint about Cloverhill Prison (205), Mountjoy Prison (192), and the Midlands Prison (172).
There was not a single complaint made about the open prison at Loughan House in Co Cavan, and just one logged at the other open prison at Shelton Abbey in Co Wicklow.
Low levels of complaint were also recorded at Arbour Hill with nine lodged, Cork Prison with eight, and Limerick Prison with 18.
The Irish Prison Service said that of the 84 Category A complaints made last year, 47 related to an assault, 27 to ill-treatment, 3 to racial discrimination or abuse, and 13 regarding intimidation.
Of those complaints, forty were not upheld while six were withdrawn.
Another 24 are still under review while eight were determined to be “outside the scope”.
There were three cases that were partially upheld and another three cases where the Irish Prison Service was “unable to determine” what transpired.
A spokeswoman said: “The Irish Prison Service is committed to providing safe and secure custody to those in our custody, and to treating them with dignity and respect.
“We are committed to dealing effectively with any complaints prisoners or their representatives may have about the service we provide. If we get something wrong, where possible we will put things right.
“Complaints are managed in line with our Complaints Policy, and complaints management is overseen by a dedicated Complaints Unit who ensure complaints are dealt with promptly and fairly.”
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