Overcrowding at Cork Prison reaches all-time high as almost 100 inmates have no bed 

Overcrowding in Cork Prison hit a new all-time high yesterday, with a quarter of all prisoners sleeping on the floor or on mattresses.

Yesterday, there were 394 people incarcerated in the 296-bed facility, meaning 98 prisoners did not have a bed.

According to figures from the Irish Prison Service, Cork Prison is operating at 133% of capacity, a new record for the chronically-overcrowded facility.

Yesterday, 87 inmates were sleeping on mattresses on the floor, meaning 11 prisoners did not have even a mattress on which to sleep. And 56 Cork Prison inmates are out on temporary release.

Nationally, there were 5,552 inmates yesterday, in a prison system with a capacity for 4,672 prisoners, meaning 880 people were sleeping on mattresses or on the floor.

Cork is, by some distance, the most overcrowded male prison in the country. Meanwhile, the female section in Mountjoy Prison is at 135% of capacity, and the female section in Limerick Prison at 152%.

Failure

Colm Burke, Fine Gael TD for Cork North Central, said prison overcrowding was occurring as a result of a failure to take into account the effects of recent additional appointments to the judiciary.

“It is a major challenge for the prison service to provide spaces in view of the fact that processing of criminal cases has been expedited, therefore there are more cases coming forward for trial in an earlier timeframe, and unfortunately, sufficient planning has not been put in place in respect of the number of prison spaces,” he said. 

“The Department of Justice is going to have to deal with this matter in the fastest possible time period in order to deal with overcrowding.”

He added that there was a pressing need to deliver new facilities “in the fastest possible timescale”.

“This is something that we cannot wait around for another five years for; this has to be done within a time period of 12 months,” he said.

Plans

Last month, plans to demolish the old Cork Prison — which closed in 2016 — and build a new prison alongside the current facility, were put forward by Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan.

The new building would cater for an additional 230 male inmates and 100 female inmates and would be delivered by 2031 under the plans.

Mr O’Callaghan’s proposals have been strongly opposed by TDs and councillors representing the local area.

However, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has indicated he would be in favour of expanding the current facility onto the old site, and on a recent visit to Cork, Tánaiste Simon Harris concurred.