Irish Prisons in Crisis. ‘Extreme duress’ strain for Irish prison system & no room for new inmates warning amid huge over 120% overcrowding alert

IRISH jails were operating at such extreme levels of overcrowding that senior officials warned they might not be able to take any new inmates and would struggle to produce prisoners at court.

In a stark warning, the Director General of the Irish Prison Service said the country’s main remand prison was at 125 per cent capacity and only had room for three more people.

Caron McCaffrey said once those three mattresses were used, there would be “no further secure accommodation” available at Cloverhill Prison.

Ms McCaffrey said six jails were operating at capacities of between 123 and 154 per cent of their intended capacity.