Drug dealer released just four weeks into 18 month term due to prison overcrowding crisis
IRISH JAILS ARE so overcrowded that prison authorities are left with no other option but to release long sentence prisoners despite convictions for serious offences,
The Journal
has learned.
Multiple security and civil service sources have confirmed that a number of prisoners, including those suspected to be members of Organised Crime Groups, have been released.
Prison sources said that prisoners who have received sentences for non-violent offences, like cases associated with large drugs seizures, are being let out ahead of time.
The calculus used for the release of the prisoners is that they are not classified as a danger to society. The Department of Justice has claimed they are on 'temporary release' but the reality, according to multiple sources, is that these prisoners will remain free.
One of those prisoners is Stephanie Treacy from Limerick – she was sentenced to 18 months in prison for her part in a drug dealing operation in the city's St Mary's Park, which is known locally as The Island Field or Kings Island.
She served just four weeks of that two year sentence before being released by prison authorities – both Garda and Prison Service sources have confirmed that it was due to measures to limit overcrowding.
Stephanie Treacy and her brother Owen Treacy, who was identified in court by gardaí as being involved in organised crime in the city, were arrested after a lengthy garda operation.
Owen Treacy has 140 previous convictions for a variety of offences and is a member of a well known family in the city. He and his sister were caught after a long-term garda covert surveillance operation.
Gardaí told
a Limerick court in April
that the Treacys and some associates accessed the roofs of houses on St Munchin's Street between 18 July and 2 August, 2019. They were placing and removing objects under roof tiles – the gardaí confirmed this was where their drugs were located.
On 2 August, 2019, Gardaí executed search warrants on three properties at St Munchin's Street, as well as an address associated with the Treacys at St Ita's Street. There they seized more than €32,000 in cash and cheques, as well as more than 100 drug deals that were ready for distribution.
The Treacys were placing the drugs inside the plastic toy holders found in Kinder Eggs before selling them on.
Owen Treacy Junior has recently been convicted of a threat to kill a Limerick based garda.
He got a three month sentence for that which would run consecutive to his three-and-a-half years for the Kinder Egg drugs scheme with Stephanie.
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Owen Treacy will serve his sentence but his sister is out and free and back in Limerick City, having served a fraction of what the judge in the circuit court deemed appropriate.
Stephanie had received a three year headline sentence, with the final 18 months suspended.
A view of Limerick city looking up the Shannon towards Kings Island.
Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Overcrowding
The Journal
has previously reported that record-high levels of overcrowding inside Ireland's prisons
are increasing the risk of violence
, seeing incarcerated people
sleeping on the floor
and creating a
difficult working environment for staff
.
There is now a real risk that the Irish Prison Service
will not be able to transport all prisoners for court hearings, as overcrowding is putting pressure on staff to meet their escort abilities.
Director General of the Irish Prison Service Caron McCaffrey warned the Department of Justice in a letter last year that the system is at 'tipping point' in respect of its ability to carry out escorts to court and maintain safe staffing standards inside its facilities.
Her letter told the Department: 'Current levels of overcrowding are exacerbated by resource constraints due to ever-increasing demands for escorts.'
We asked the Irish Prison Service and the Department of Justice for comment on the release of prisoners and the specific case of Stephanie Treacy.
The Irish Prison Service said they do not comment on individual cases.
The Department of Justice classified the freeing of prisoners as 'temporary release'.
'The Irish Prison Service must accept into custody all people committed to prison by the Courts. As such, the Irish Prison Service has no control over the numbers committed to custody at any given time.
'Where the number of people in custody exceeds the maximum capacity in any prison, officials in the Irish Prison Service make every effort to deal with this through a combination of inter-prison transfers and structured Temporary Release.
'The legislative basis for temporary release is set out in the Criminal Justice Act 1960, as amended by the Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Act 2003.
'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.'
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