Slopping out: Difference between revisions

During the late 1970s, [[IrishProvisional Republican ArmyIRA]] Volunteersvolunteers protested against conditions of internment at [[HM Prison Maze]] by refusing to slop out and instead smearing their fecesfaeces on the cell walls. This was later referred to as the [[Dirty protest]], part of several acts of disobedience within the "H-Blocks" culminating in the [[1981 Irish Hunger Strike]].

Slopping out was allegedly abolished in [[England and Wales]] by 1996, although ''[[Private Eye]]'' in 2011 reported that Prisons Inspector Nick Hardwick stated that it still persisted at [[HM Prison Gloucester|HMP Gloucester]]. <ref name="Private Eye">{{cite news | title = Very sloppy | newspaper = Private Eye No. 1280 | date = 21 January 2011 | page = 31}}</ref>

It was scheduled to be abolished in Scotland by 1999.<ref name="times">{{cite webnews | title = A daily ritual for one fifth of Scots inmates | author = Shirley English | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article844836.ece | publishernewspaper = ''[[The Times]]'' | date = 27 April 2004 | accessdateaccess-date = 3 April 2008-04-03 | location=London}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite webnews | title = Inmates lose 'slopping out' claim | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3527632.stm | publisherwork = [[BBC News Online]] | date = 12 August 2004 | accessdateaccess-date = 6 July 2010-07-06}}</ref> Due to budget restraints the abolition was delayed, and by 2004 prisoners in five of Scotland's sixteen prisons still had to slop out.<ref name="times"/> Slopping out ended in [[Polmont (HM Prison)|HM Young Offenders Institution Polmont]] in 2007, leaving [[HMP Peterhead|HM Prison Peterhead]] as the last Scottish prison where prisoners did not have access to plumbing; 300 prisoners had to use chemical toilets due to the difficulty of installing modern plumbing in the prison's granite structure.<ref>{{cite web | title = Slopping out payments to be made | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/5349130.stm | publisher = BBC | date = 15 September 2006 | accessdateaccess-date = 3 April 2008-04-03}}</ref><ref>{{cite webnews | title = Slopping out cash that was diverted away from prisons | author = Lucy Adams | url = http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/focus/display.var.1784377.0.0.php | publishernewspaper = ''[[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Herald]]'' | date = 25 October 2007 | accessdateaccess-date = 3 April 2008-04-03 | deadurlurl-status = yesdead | archiveurlarchive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080413064952/http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/focus/display.var.1784377.0.0.php | archivedatearchive-date = 13 April 2008 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> Peterhead ultimately closed in December 2013.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/heritage/notorious-peterhead-prison-closes-its-doors-1-3223438 | title=Notorious Peterhead prison closes its doors | publisher=[[The Scotsman]] | work=scotsman.com | date=6 December 2013 | accessdateaccess-date=16 November 2014}}</ref>

Slopping out is still in practice in prisons in the [[Republic of Ireland]].<ref>[[The Times]] article on [https://web.archive.org/web/20110629122250/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2208241.ece Inspector of Irish Prisons] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20110629122250/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2208241.ece Archive])</ref> Speaking at the launch of the [[Irish Human Rights Commission]]'s Annual Report for 2009, the [[Green Party (Ireland)|Green Party]] Junior Minister for Integration [[Mary White (Green Party politician)|Mary White]] said it was time to move on from the Victorian practice. Slopping out was eradicated in Dublin's [[Mountjoy Prison]] by the end of 2013<ref>{{cite webnews | title = Burglary rates down 10% in Dublin, Shatter tells Oireachtas Committee | author = Conor Lally | url = http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/burglary-rates-down-10-in-dublin-shatter-tells-oireachtas-committee-1.1435116 | publishernewspaper = ''[[The Irish Times]]'' | date = 19 June 2013 | accessdateaccess-date = 2013-06-19 June 2013}}</ref> and in [[Cork Prison]] in 2016.<ref>http{{Cite web|url=https://www.iprt.ie/contentslatest-news/2937slopping-out-ended-in-cork-prison/|title=Slopping out ended in Cork Prison|website=www.iprt.ie}}</ref> However, the practice continues at [[Limerick Prison]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/271178/nineteen-inmates-slopping-out-in-limerick-prison.html|title=Nineteen inmates 'slopping out' in Limerick Prison|website=www.limerickleader.ie|date=19 September 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/business/constructionarid-30874402.html|title=Construction company- challenges- awarding- of-53m-limerick-prison- €53m Limerick Prison contract-874402.html|date=8 October 2018|website=Irish Examiner}}</ref>