3XEOLFDWLRQRI&37YLVLWUHSRUWV 34. The report refers to a number of cases where prisoners did not receive proper health care, mainly due to the insufficient attendance time of doctors, inadequate admission interviews and an absence of rigour in examining prisoners after their discharge from hospital back to prison. The CPT makes a series of recommendations aimed at improving the provision of health care in Irish prisons. In their response, the Irish authorities refer to ongoing independent reviews of primary health care in Cork, Midlands and Mountjoy Prisons and aspects of drug treatment in Irish prisons, and to disciplinary procedures on non-compliance with hours of attendance by prison doctors. 35. The report highlights that overcrowding remains a major problem in Irish prisons, aggravated by the considerable increase in the prison population and the conditions in certain of the old prisons. In Cork and Mountjoy Prisons, cells measuring 7.5 to 9 m² were used to accommodate two, sometimes three inmates, with the third person usually having to sleep on a mattress on the floor. In addition, none of these cells possessed in-cell sanitation; prisoners continued to discharge human waste into chamber pots in the presence of one or more other persons, and the pots remained in the cell until slopped out in the morning. The CPT calls upon the Irish authorities to eradicate slopping out from the prison system, and in the meantime to take action to minimise its degrading effects. The report also makes recommendations to improve the regime, especially for those prisoners placed on 23-hour lock-up for protection purposes. In their response, the Irish authorities emphasise current efforts to expand the overall prison capacity by modernising the existing estate and building additional prisons, notably the Thornton Hall complex. They also refer to major progress in installing in-cell sanitation and to a new camping-style toilet being tested. Information is provided on measures to improve the regime and on the policy towards prisoners on protection, which is directly linked to efforts to tackle the phenomenon of inter-prisoner violence. 36. At the psychiatric hospitals of St Brenda’s (Dublin) and St Ita’s (Portraine), the CPT’s delegation did not receive any allegations of ill-treatment of patients by staff. However, it found a significant level of violence, both between patients and directed towards staff. The poor material conditions in many of the units, the large dormitories and the inadequate number of experienced staff were important contributors to this state of affairs. The CPT also expresses concern as regards the delay in adopting new mental capacity legislation, to replace the outdated 1871 Lunacy Regulation (Ireland) Act.