An international watchdog has criticised the high level of violence in Irish prisons, pointing to gang culture and drugs as two key factors.

The Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture has released the report it wrote after carrying out a series of visits to Irish prisons.

They looked at the treatment of prisoners here, both physically and mentally. 

The delegation reported several allegations of physical ill treatment by gardaí of people in custody.

The committee is also concerned about four recent cases of deaths in custody warning that the Irish Prison Service may have failed in its duty of care.

Also under criticism is a practice of detaining migrants in Cloverhill Prison with criminals.

Members of the committee have praised Irish authorities for managing to get overcrowding in our prisons under control, at least in the men's institutions. Prisons are operating at about 75% of full capacity currently.

But they are criticising the ongoing practice of slopping out in some Irish prisons, such as Cork and Portlaoise, describing it as debasing and degrading.

Cork's prison is due to be closed.

Julia Kozma told Newstalk Breakfast there has been progress on modernisation, but warns it is a slow process:

Another recent report on our prisons, by The Irish Penal Reform Trust, also identified a number of inadequacies.