3. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration if he will respond to reports that women prisoners are being held in degrading and overcrowded conditions in the Dóchas Centre; and whether the Government accepts that continuing to rely on incarceration without sufficient investment in alternatives to custody, risks simply warehousing vulnerable women in the prison system. [20842/26]

Sentiment score: -0.28

Will the Minister respond to reports that women prisoners are being held in degrading and overcrowded conditions in the Dóchas Centre? Does the Government accept that continuing to rely on incarceration without sufficient investment in alternatives to custody risks simply warehousing vulnerable women in the prison system? The phrase "warehousing vulnerable women" is not something I have concocted myself. It was used in a report presented to the Minister's Department, which has yet to be released.

Sentiment score: -0.40

I thank the Minister for his response. The figures are fairly stark. Last night, the Dóchas Centre was at 153% of its capacity and 29 women were sleeping on the floor. Can the Minister imagine what that does to a person's capacity for rehabilitation and sense of place in the world? I understand these people have committed crimes and that there are consequences to that but the consequences of placing people in these conditions go well beyond what is appropriate to the crime, impacting their families and their children. I appreciate the Minister has said that 26 extra spaces will be provided at the Dóchas Centre during his term but that same report that has not been released yet also highlighted the fact that the Garda National Immigration Bureau is showing up at overcrowded prisons to place people into them without any consultation with the prison guards. That is extraordinary and it is happening on the Minister's watch. These 26 extra spaces will not fix this. We need something far more radical and different.

Sentiment score: -0.06

I would definitely like to hear a lot more about these separate places because we still have not ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, OPCAT, on the prevention of torture. Today, I am here talking about the Dóchas Centre. A couple of weeks ago, I was talking about the women's prison in Limerick. The conditions in the men's prisons are extraordinary. We had the Inspector of Prisons before the committee a couple of months ago and his contribution was jaw-dropping. He spoke about conditions in our prison system being tantamount to torture. We know recidivism rates are nearly seven out of ten in this country. Is it time to be more radical? What would a citizens' assembly on prisons and incarceration in this country look like? We should begin a full exploration of our prison system. What is working and what is very clearly not working? What do we need to do differently and what can we do differently? Do we really need to imprison women whose children will have to visit them and be traumatised by that prospect? There are a lot of things we can do if we had a vision for something very different. Clearly, what we have is not only not working, it has been described as being tantamount to torture.

Sentiment score: -0.12