Ex-prisoners to seek 'slopping out' payments

A Limerick-based solicitor is preparing to lodge a class action on behalf of hundreds of prisoners and former prisoners who are seeking compensation for having been "dehumanised" by the practice of "slopping out" - emptying chamber pots - while jailed.

Solicitor Mr John Devane said that following a ruling last month at the European Court of Human Rights in favour of a Scottish prisoner, who was awarded almost €5,000 in compensation for slopping out, he is confident his action will succeed.

Mr Devane, one of the first solicitors to take army deafness claims, said that up to Tuesday evening he had 120 claims. Following media reports about the case yesterday, he had added a further 120.

"I think this could cost the State millions upon millions. In the case of the army hearing claims you had to prove an injury, but with the slopping out, the claimants will simply have to show that they were in a prison where slopping out took place."

He said 34 of his clients so far are former republican prisoners. Other claimants had spent long periods of time in jail and in some cases had shared cells with five other inmates.

When cells are not equipped with sanitation facilities, prisoners are forced to use pots during the night.

Slopping out takes place in Mountjoy, Portlaoise and Cork prisons, which account for around 750, or one third, of the State's prison spaces.

"Some of the former prisoners I've spoken to have described how they have had to use a pot in a cell with a blanket over them to try and get some privacy from their cell mates," Mr Devane said.

"In recent years lots of money has been spent on building new prison spaces or upgrading facilities. It would have been just as easy to put toilets in cells yet it was never done."

Mr Devane added that he has had a steady stream of calls over the past two weeks from individuals from different parts of the State interested in taking cases.

The Irish Prison Service said it had not yet received any claim for compensation. A spokesman said all the cases would be fought.

"In Scotland money was set aside some time ago to upgrade prisons to do away with slopping out. But other priorities emerged and the money was diverted. We believe that that was part of the reason why the claim succeeded there," he said.