breaking point | 

Irish prisons ‘bursting at seams’ with record number of inmates awaiting trial

Three times this year, the record for the number of prisoners being held within the system was broken

Today at 08:00

Ireland’s prison system is bursting at the seams with record numbers of inmates being held on remand awaiting trial or sentencing, the Sunday World can reveal.

Three times this year, the record for the number of prisoners being held within the system was broken with a high of 4,742 inmates recorded on November 16th.

This exceeded an official bed capacity within the system of 4,514 beds – but sources say this number has already been artificially boosted by doubling up the numbers of beds in cells and the use of mattresses.

The same month more than 1,000 inmates were being held on remand awaiting trial.

On December 5th, every prison in the country bar the two open centres, Shelton Abbey and Loughan House, were running at above capacity.

The Dochas Prison was running at 116 per cent of the maximum inmate capacity, Limerick male prison was at 112 per cent, the Midlands at 107 per cent, and both Cork and Castlerea were at 110 per cent.

“Quite clearly, the prison system is very near crisis point,” a source told the Sunday World.

“And yes, long term, we can talk about building a new prison but that could take up to 20 years to build.

“And that is not the answer.

“The solution is to build additional prison accommodation at locations where all the facilities required are already in place.

“That can be done relatively quickly.”

In a statement to the Sunday World, the Irish Prison Service confirmed that prisoner number are now the biggest challenge it is facing.

“The Irish Prison Service are taking a number of short and medium term steps to address the issue of increasing prison numbers,” the statement said.

“Government has provided significant capital funding to the Irish Prison Service in order to enhance existing prison infrastructure.

“The commissioning of a new male and female prison accommodation in Limerick Prison has provided an additional 90 male spaces and 22 additional female cell spaces.

“This new male and female accommodation is now fully open and operational.

“The Programme for Government 2020 contains a broad range of policies and proposals that represent a coherent approach to enhancing and sustaining a more just and safe society, with a specific commitment to review policy options for prison and penal reform.

“In respect of delivering on this commitment, the Government approved the Review of Policy Options for Prison and Penal Reform 2022-2024.

“This review seeks to find the balance between ensuring that people who commit serious crimes receive a punishment and a period of incarceration proportionate to that crime, while at the same time acknowledging that sometimes community based sanctions are more appropriate in diverting offenders away from future criminal activity.

“In addition to delivering the recommendations of the Review of Policy Options for Prison and Penal Reform, the need to ensure the continued availability of modern prison facilities with adequate capacity will continue to be central to the work of the Irish Prison Service and will be core to the development of the new Irish Prison Service Capital Plan.”