Prison bosses are rushing to get toilets in the cells of Mountjoy Training Unit before it’s used to hold elderly criminals next year.
It comes after the successful case brought forward by former inmate Gary Simpson who was awarded €7,500 in damages in November.
He was forced to slop out in “distressing” and “humiliating” conditions at Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison.
Supreme Court judge John McMenamin said the regime which the former convict was exposed to “fell below acceptable standards in an Irish prison in the year 2013” and ruled the prison diminished Simpson’s right to privacy and dignity.
The case has now opened the flood gates to roughly 1,600 other similar pending cases, which could cost the State more than €12million.
A source said: “It’s a mad dash to get it all done as the last thing the prison service will want is more compensation cases for slopping out.”
A spokesman for the Irish Prison Service added: “It was always the intention of the IPS to repurpose the Training Unit as a centre for older prisoners.
“No prisoner will be required to slop-out in the refurbished Training Unit as all will have access to toilets on a 24/7 basis.”
