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Total of 404 prisoners now sleeping on mattresses in Irish jail cells
Inmates used to having their own cells are suddenly having to share with one or two other people.
A total of 404 prisoners are now sleeping on mattresses in overcrowded Irish jails.
The biggest number, 103, are lying on the floor in Mountjoy Prison, followed by 80 in the Midlands, 56 in Cork, 43 Wheatfield, 38 in Cloverhill, 34 in Limerick, Castlerea and seven in Portlaoise.
There are also nine women inmates sleeping on mattresses in Mountjoy women's prison, the Dochas Centre.
The latest data from the Irish Prison Service also disclosed there are currently a sky-high 5,413 prisoners in custody - 878 more than the official number of beds they have in custody.
The number of people jailed passed the 5,000 mark last year.
The overcrowding issue has led to increasing tensions in many prisons.
Inmates used to having their own cells are suddenly having to share with one or two other people.
Most lifers such as Aisling Murphy's killer Josef Puska, and notorious murderers Graham Dwyer and Joe O'Reilly still have cells on their own.
The biggest number of prisoners in the country are in Mountjoy with 988 in the men's jail, 182 in the women's prison and 97 many of them sex offenders in what is known as the Training Unit.
There are 1,040 prisoners being held in the Midlands jail.
A senior prison officer in Mountjoy said they have run out of space and the overcrowding issue is causing a lot of infighting and bad blood between some prisoners.
Only last weekend one inmate was left fighting for his life after being attacked in the exercise yard.
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Today's News in 90 Seconds - June 14 2025
Career criminal and convicted killer Stephen Kearney, from Ballymun, Dublin is being treated in the Beaumont Hospital, Dublin and is in a critical condition.
Kearney previously served nine years for manslaughter as teenager after he beat a young man, Francis Gallagher, 18 to death in 2004.
He was due to be freed from Mountjoy in the next few weeks.
The Irish Prison Service says it has a legal obligation to accommodate every prisoner spend to jail by the courts irrespective of whether it has the room or not.
