Prison overcrowding 'extremely concerning', says Irish Penal Reform Trust
The prison population across Ireland now exceeds 5,000 in a system with bed capacity for over 4,600, leaving the Prison Service operating at 14% over capacity.
The Irish Penal Reform Trust has warned that overcrowding has been persistent since 2023 and has led to unacceptable, degrading and dehumanising conditions in some prisons.
Speaking to RTÉ's News at One, Executive Director of the Trust Saoirse Brady said: "We have seen a steady increase in the number of people in prison since the end of 2023, hitting a peak last summer.
"We see certain prisons extremely overcrowded."
"This is extremely concerning," she said.
The highest level of overcrowding is at Limerick's Women's prison, which is 48% over capacity.
Eighty three women are in custody there, but the prison has just 56 beds.
The male prison is also overcrowded at 28% over capacity, meaning 398 men are in custody, but there are just 311 beds.
"That means that there are people sleeping on mattresses on the floor, that there are four to a cell, that is all increasing tensions and ensuring people are living in inhumane and degrading conditions," Ms Brady said.
The Prison Officers Association also said the situation has been extremely difficult for their members and has exacerbated a drug problem in some prisons.
"Members have to manage this on a daily basis. Imagine an area that is supposed to be for 50 prisoners, and there is 100 there, you can imagine the challenges," said Deputy General Secretary of the association Gabriel Keaveney.
The association said that the current figures are now beyond the point where they can safely operate.
"We also have a massive problem now with drugs, because prisoners are in the exercise yard when they should be in workshops, and that is one of the methods used to drop drugs into the yards by drone," he said.
In a statement, the Prison Service said that where numbers committed to prison exceed capacity, they make every effort to deal with this through a combination of inter-prison transfers and structured Temporary Release.
"Decisions in relation to temporary release are considered on a case-by-case basis and the safety of the public is paramount when those decisions are made," it said.
The Prison Service said their capital budget for 2025 is €53m, up €22.5m on the original 2024 allocation, which is focused on bringing additional spaces into the system.
The Government has made significant capital funding available to the Irish Prison Service to enhance the existing prison infrastructure and provide additional capacity.
In recent years, capacity across the prison estate has been increased by in excess of 300 additional spaces.
"The Irish Prison Service continues to engage with the Department of Justice to progress plans to bring on stream accommodation to support the target of 1,500 additional prison places as set out under Programme for Government," it said.
The Department of Justice said the Programme for Government also commits to legislation extending the use of community sanctions and the roll out of the voluntary restorative justice programme.
"The Programme for Government also commits to implement electronic tagging for appropriate categories of offender, and work is underway to achieve this with the commencement of a project to examine how electronic monitoring can be brought into use in line with existing legislative provisions," it said.
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