Irish prisoners hospitalised for assaults, self-harm and drug incidents

The Irish Prison Service (IPS) released figures for the period between January 2014-September 2016 to the newspaper on the back of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

There were 73 prisoners hospitalised due to actual or suspected assaults, with 34 (47 per cent) of those being from Mountjoy Prison.

Mountjoy Prison was also responsible for the highest number of hospitalisations related to self-harm: 21.

There were 34 prisoners across Ireland hospitalised for drug-related incidents. Meanwhile, 41 were hospitalised after swallowing or ingesting items or substances, including contraband.

One hospitalisation, in Cork in June 2015, was due to an alleged sexual assault. Another hospitalisation, in Limerick in December 2015, was in order to provide emergency treatment to a prisoner on hunger strike.