St Patrick's Institution, the largest facility in the State for young offenders, should be closed because it is "completely inadequate" to provide rehabilitation for young people, according to a report by the Inspector of Prisons.
In a series of damning findings, the Inspector of Prisons, Dermot Kinlen, has found that inmates are spending up to 14 hours in their cells, while workshops for young offenders have been closed due to budget cutbacks.
He also expressed concern at alleged levels of bullying and harassment in the institution, while a combination of workshop closures and rehabilitation services have turned St Patrick's into a "warehouse" where inmates are deteriorating.
"I fully support its closure as it is completely inadequate to provide rehabilitation for the juveniles.
"It is far too cramped to have worthwhile space for workshops, education, etc, but especially for recreation or open areas for outdoor games," according to the report.
He said workshops, which played a valuable role in the rehabilitation of young people, had been closed due to "inexplicable and inexcusable" budget cutbacks.
The closure of Shanganagh, a low-security open centre for young offenders, meant inmates had nothing to aspire to and no goal to achieve.
"The combination of all of these retrograde steps has seriously affected the regimes and rehabilitation prospects for a lot of the inmates and has merely turned St Patrick's into a 'warehouse'. The inmates will naturally deteriorate in such a system."
Mr Kinlen's report comes 20 years after the influential Whitaker Report in 1985 which also criticised rehabilitation in the facility and called for its immediate closure.
The Whitaker report stated that the physical and environmental conditions nullified any personal development among inmates, while services which a humane centre could provide could not be delivered in a renovated St Patrick's Institution.
Minister for Justice Michael McDowell announced last year that the institution, along with Mountjoy Prison, would be relocated to a greenfield site outside the city.
The institution, which has been operating in Dublin since the late 1950s, houses approximately 200 inmates between 16 and 21 years of age. The majority are from the most deprived areas of the country and tend to have fallen out of the education system.
Figures show that 50 per cent of inmates cannot read or write, while 20 per cent can only sign their name.
The inspector also found that taxpayers' money has been "squandered" by building a €10 million facility for boys aged between 14 and 15 which was never used and is now due to be demolished.
Despite the serious flaws in the system, Mr Kinlen said the governor and staff were generally doing a good job but were greatly constrained by limited budgets.
He also expressed concern at reports of widespread bullying. There were 198 reports of inmates assaulting fellow inmates over a 12-month period, resulting in concern over the level of bullying and harassment.
The inspector called on management, services and agencies involved in the institutions to work together to help eliminate the problem.
