No Christmas prison break for Cork inmates this year 

No inmates from Cork Prison — where almost 50 of them do not have a bed at the moment — will be spending Christmas at home this year, the Irish Prison Service has said.

Nationally, 138 prisoners will be granted varying periods of temporary release this Christmas, under the Criminal Justice Act 1960.

The number of applications approved is a slight decrease from last year, when 139 were released.

However, the 138 is an increase on previous years: The numbers were 129 in 2022; 70 in 2021; 37 in 2020; and 113 in 2019, with the Prison Service noting that, in 2020 and 2021, numbers were affected by the pandemic.

Slight decrease

The slight decrease from the numbers released for Christmas is despite a significantly worse overcrowding problem. There were 550 prisoners in Ireland without a bed on Thursday, compared to just 172 on the same date of 2023, while on the same date in 2022 there were 100 empty beds.

High numbers of inmates are sleeping on the floor in Cork Prison, because of overcrowding, with 69 people without a bed at the end of November, when the prison was at 123% capacity.

In the last few weeks, this number has decreased, from 365 inmates on November 29 to 352 on December 4. As of Wednesday, December 18, there were 343 inmates in Cork Prison, a reduction of 22 from the record highs of less than three weeks earlier.

However, this number still represents 47 more people than the prison has space for, with the prison now at 116% capacity and large amounts of inmates likely to spend Christmas sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a cell with more people than it was designed to hold.

Temporary release

There are 66 people on temporary release from Cork Prison, but these are not included in the figures for the special Christmas temporary leave, the majority of whom are made up of people from the two open prisons in Wicklow and Cavan, a spokesperson for the prison service told The Echo.

The service explained: “Many of the prisoners being released are nearing the end of their sentences and the overriding concern when considering the applications is the safety of the public.

“In addition to compassionate and humane considerations, other criteria taken into account include the nature and gravity of the offence, length of sentence served to date, prior record on temporary release, behaviour while in custody, and previous criminal history.

“The periods of release vary from a few hours up to seven nights.

“All releases are subject to stringent conditions and any offender who breaks these conditions may be arrested and returned immediately to prison by the gardaí. The sensitivities of victims are an issue that has also been taken into account. Additional, specific conditions will also apply in relation to victim cases.

“Furthermore, all registered victims with the Irish Prison Service Victim Liaison Service will be informed in the cases where prisoners are receiving Christmas temporary release.”