Convicted prisoners bunking with those on bail on the rise at Cork Prison

The number of people awaiting court cases who are sharing cells with people who have already been convicted has increased by 71% in Cork Prison as overcrowding worsens.

Data on the accommodation of people on remand in prison (a person who has been charged with a criminal offence is being held in custody while awaiting trial or sentencing rather than being released on bail), shows that 84 unconvicted prisoners in Cork were sharing cells with convicted prisoners on one day last month.

Rule 71 of the 2007 Prison Rules refers to separate accommodation and states: “Unconvicted prisoners shall, in so far as is practicable and subject to the maintenance of good order and safe and secure custody, be accommodated in areas that are separate from those in which convicted prisoners are accommodated or to which convicted prisoners have access, and convicted prisoners shall, as far as is practicable, not be permitted access to areas to which unconvicted prisoners have access.”

There is currently one prison in Ireland dedicated as a remand prison, Cloverhill Prison.

Efforts are taken by individual local prison management to minimise the accommodation of remand and sentenced prisoners together, but this is not always upheld.

As of September 9 this year, there were 84 remand prisoners sharing a cell with sentenced prisoners in Cork Prison.

This is a slight increase from the figure on December 31, 2024, when 82 remand prisoners were sharing a cell with sentenced prisoners, and a sharper increase from 68 on December 31, 2023, and 49 on the same date in 2022.

On September 9, there were 371 people in custody in Cork Prison — 125% of the facility’s capacity of 296.

There were 343 people in custody on the last day of 2024, compared to 333 in 2023 and 256 people in 2022.

The remand prison, Cloverhill, has also seen the numbers in custody at that facility increase during this time.

It had 88% of its capacity filled at the end of 2022, and 118% on September 9 last.