Our prison overcrowding crisis is a disgrace & we'll have a tragic event on our hands soon if real solution not found

The Irish Sun

01-05-2025

OUR prisons are in crisis - with overcrowding out of control.
The annual conference of the
The conference comes at a time when the number of people in custody is continuing to rise, with more than 350 people sleeping on jail floors yesterday.
The prison system is currently 115 per cent over capacity, compared to 110 per cent last April and 104 per cent the previous year.
The most overcrowded jails are
The POA told how there are a whopping 1,500 more prisoners than in 2019.
Read more in News
Prison officers fear there will be a 'tragic event or some other crisis' in Irish prisons if the Government does not immediately tackle the worsening levels of overcrowding in the system.
Tony Power, President of the Irish Prison Officers' Association, and Midlands Prison Officer, highlights the serious situation in our jails...
POA WARNING
THE number of people in custody is continuing to rise daily, yesterday we had 5,344 in custody.
This is approximately 1,500 prisoners more than at this time in 2019 when I asked the then Minister for Justice to take real action to ensure we did not return to the bad old days of 'Pack 'Em, Rack 'Em and Stack 'Em' and to the revolving door situation.
Most read in The Irish Sun
This overcrowding situation is a disgrace and is potentially creating an explosive situation within our prisons.
Following a meeting held last Tuesday with senior officials - just two days prior to our conference - we were genuinely astonished to learn for the first time that:
NO analysis has been conducted regarding the upgrade potential of the E Block at Portlaoise Prison, where 160 idle cells could potentially accommodate up to 200 prisoners.
CURRAGH Prison could be brought back into operation to hold 98 prisoners—at a cost significantly lower than the €600,000 per unit currently being spent on modular homes.
NO assessment has been made of the development potential of the D Block footprint at Portlaoise, the Separation Unit at Mountjoy, or the former hospital wing at Castlerea. These locations may support fast-tracked construction of updated facilities capable of providing more than 450 additional spaces.
At a time when over 350 prisoners are sleeping on floors daily, we are truly shocked that these viable and seemingly straightforward solutions remain wholly unexamined by the Department of Justice.
This is unacceptable—and someone must be held accountable.
In the interim, we are urgently seeking a meeting with Minister for Justice, Jim O'Callaghan, to discuss this most critical issue and explore a path forward.
During such a severe overcrowding crisis, no stone should be left unturned.
We met Minister for Justice, Jim O'Callaghan, and his officials recently to discuss this and other issues and he gave us a good hearing.
MOVE ON FROM THE PROMISES
But nothing will address this situation unless the budget is found to create more prison spaces.
We must move on from the promises.
Successive ministers have failed prison officers and this is why we find ourselves in this position today.
Our members should not be expected to work in these overcrowded prisons and the people in custody should not be expected to live in these overcrowded conditions.
It is our contention that the safe working capacity of the present-day prison estate is 4,300, that is over 1,000 less than what is currently in custody, so today I am asking the Minister, what are you going to do about it?
I don't want to sound alarmist, but if we don't find an immediate solution to this problem, we will have a tragic event or some form of crisis on all our hands.
STOP THE DRONES
The level of contraband in our prisons is at unprecedented levels, to the extent that prisoners are now storing
The current netting that covers a lot of our prison yards is not sufficient as has been proven over the past number of years.
They have been burnt through by firebombs dropped by the drones; they have collapsed under the weight of snow leaving some prisons without exercise yards for prisoners.
EXTERNAL THREAT
Drones are so sophisticated nowadays that the only way to stop the steady flow of contraband into our prisons is to stop the drones from flying pas the perimeter wall of a prison in the first place.
Prison officers are not able to intervene to what is essentially an external threat.
The danger that incidents such as these create for Prison Officers is unquantifiable, as officers will put their own Health and Safety at risk in an effort to retrieve this contraband.
I am not sensationalising this issue but if drugs, phones even Chinese takeaways can be sent in by drone then what's to stop them sending in firearms?
What is it going to take to ensure that the Department of Justice takes some sort of meaningful action to address this most serious issue.
If it takes a legislative change and a review of intervention in other jurisdictions, then it is the Justice Minister department's responsibility to make that change, irrespective of cost.
SITUATION NOT ACCEPTABLE
Overcrowding provides the perfect atmosphere for the bully to thrive and exert huge pressure on vulnerable prisoners.
The assaults on prison officers have become part of the system and this is not acceptable to the Prison Officers' Association.
All state employees should have a safe working environment - not so for prison officers, and this seems to be widely accepted by the entire management body.
1
Our prisons are in crisis - with overcrowding out of control
Credit: Getty Images - Getty