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The Journal
04-05-2025
- The Journal
Fears within prison service that prison overcrowding increasing risk of violence and rioting
Inside an Irish prison. The number of people sleeping on mattresses on the floor breached 350 earlier this week. POA POA SENIOR SOURCES WITHIN the Irish Prison Service have said severe overcrowding has increased the risk of rioting within Dublin prisons. It is the working belief of the Irish Prison Service that overcrowding levels are so high that a violent incident is extremely likely to take place within one of the densely populated facilities in Dublin, one senior prison service source said. Overcrowding levels in Irish prisons have not been as high since 2009, when there were more than 13,500 people in custody . Towards the end of that year, at the height of an overcrowding crisis, between 15 and 20 prisoners armed with wood and metal bars became involved in an altercation with others in Mountjoy prison. A number people were later convicted for the riot . The source pointed to the 2009 incident as evidence that extreme levels of overcrowding increase the risk of violence, adding that current risk level is high as it has been in decades. Nationwide overcrowding in prisons is a major cause for concern among staff and officers according to the Irish Prison Officers' Association (POA), which has called for action to resolve the overcrowding crisis as soon as possible. POA President Tony Power said many prison officers believe that with hot weather expected in the city this summer and cramped conditions within Irish prisons, tensions inside between people in custody will begin to rise. 'The problem is that we've nowhere to put people,' Power told The Journal at the POA conference in Galway this week. 'If there is a riot in Mountjoy and we've to move 20 people to Midlands Prison, it means we have to move 20 people out of the Midlands [to make room]. That can't work.' Advertisement A spokesperson for the Irish Prison Service said it does not comment on operational or security matters. Officers working in over-crowded prisons have described the situation as a 'shit show'. The POA this week expressed concern over the level of contraband coming into prisons, with growing worry among officers that a firearm might be smuggled in . There is a total of 4,666 beds in the Irish prison system, with about 300 beds ideally kept free to ensure safe capacity can be maintained. There are now between 900 and 1,100 more prisoners than beds and fewer spaces are kept free. The service this week began keeping track of the number of people sleeping on mattresses on the floor, with numbers breaching 350 on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters this week , director general of the Irish Prison Service Caron McCaffrey said the service currently has no plans to build new prisons and that it is 'far quicker and cheaper' to expand existing prisons. 'We have lots of plans in relation to additional spaces. Progress is being made on existing projects and we are building on existing prison sites, but the difficulty is the public spending appraisal process takes two years,' she said. Justice minister Jim O'Callaghan pledged to find ways to accelerate the delivery of more prison spaces when addressing the union's annual conference this week. But the senior source said the service knows that 'building out of' the current crisis is not an option, given the timescale involved in capital projects. Throughout the service there is an increasing level of frustration over what has been described as 'neglect' by successive ministers to deal with overcrowding. A number of people working in the prison service also highlighted how a 2013 report by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Penal Reform, which recommended the state take a decarceration strategy to prisons and reduce reliance on custodial sentences, has not been implemented. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
The Journal
01-05-2025
- Politics
- The Journal
Over 350 people are sleeping on mattresses on the floor in Irish prisons
Muiris O'Cearbhaill reports from Galway MINISTER FOR JUSTICE Jim O'Callaghan will be told today that there are 358 prisoners sleeping on the floor in Irish prisons – double the number previously described as unacceptable by one of his government colleagues. O'Callaghan, after addressing the Irish Prison Officers' Association's Annual Delegate Conference in Galway today, will hear that overcrowding in Irish prisons is creating an unsafe working environment for staff. Overcrowding, which President of the Association Tony Power describes as a 'major concern' among prison officers, is impacting almost every prison in Ireland. As of yesterday, 5,344 people were in custody in the nation's prisons. 358 of that total were sleeping on top of mattresses on the floor, according to the official daily statistics from the Irish Prison Service. The service began officially recording the number of mattresses on the floor this week. The number of people sleeping on the floor is more than double the amount which Tánaiste Simon Harris labelled 'not good enough' during his tenure as justice minister in 2023. Speaking today, Power will tell the event: 'Previous ministers made hollow promises of 650 extra spaces with new builds promised for Cloverhill, Midlands and Castlerea and a four-story block on the grounds of the old Separation Unit in Mountjoy. 'Two years on and not a sod has been turned on any of these projects'. Department of Justice plans have allocated almost €50 million to start delivery plans at Ireland's four main prisons – Castlerea, Cloverhill, the Midlands and Mountjoy – to accommodate an extra 670 people each year. Advertisement File image of a prison cell at Cloverhill Prison in Dublin. Rolling News Rolling News A spokesperson for Irish Prison Service has previously said the injection of funding will potentially add 1,100 more spaces on stream between 2024 and 2030. The Irish Prison Officers' Association has regularly met with O'Callaghan since his appointment in January to stress staff's concerns about overcrowding, Power will say. It says 'nothing' will change unless the issue is addressed through the allocation of funding in next year's budget to create more prison spaces in Ireland. Unsafe conditions for staff Power will say today that he does not '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 our hands'. It is understood that the minister will also be confronted today on the lack of resources available to staff in Irish prisons and will be presented with images of contraband – including drugs, phones and weapons – which have recently been seized. There is a total of 4,666 beds in the Irish prison system but the service's standard practice has been to maintain a safe working capacity was understood to be keeping up to 300 beds free. This allowed for a safe ratio of staff to people in custody. But as more people are committed to Irish prisons, fewer free beds are kept free and the number of prisoners sleeping on the floor increases. The number of people on temporary release has also increased, with nearly 600 people serving sentences outside of custody. As previously reported by The Journal , prison management has been accused of using the system as a 'release valve' to alleviate the pressure the system is facing from overcrowding. O'Callaghan has previously voiced support for introducing measures which mitigate the 'clogging up' of prisons through the imposition of sentences on people convicted of crimes such as shoplifting or those living with addition. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
