‘Worsening safety situation’ in Cork Prison sparks call for action

Overcrowding and an increase in assaults in Cork Prison are among things which “indicate a significantly worsening safety situation in Irish prisons”, the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) has said.

In the IPRT’s Progress in the Penal System report, some positives in Cork Prison were noted — including the prison visiting committee reporting good relationships between staff and inmates.

Cork has three integrated sentence management co-ordinators managing 162 eligible prisoners, meaning there is an average caseload of 54 per coordinator — the third-lowest average caseload across the Irish prison system.

However, Cork Prison operated well above its designated capacity throughout 2024, with a 113% average occupancy and quarterly levels ranging from 110% to 116%.

This impacts living conditions, access to services, and staff capacity, the IPRT said.

The overcrowding has increased further in 2025, with the prison at 130% capacity as of yesterday.

Assaults in the prison have increased significantly, from 88 in 2022 to 112 in 2023 and 135 in 2024, a 53% increase in two years, with the report saying that rising violence is likely linked to overcrowding.

There has also been a sharp growth in remand prisoners (those not yet convicted) sharing a cell with sentenced individuals, from 49 in 2022 to 82 in 2024, which undermines legal protections requiring separation of unconvicted people.

While “some good progress has been made” in the area of addiction, including work to establish a dual-diagnosis pilot service within Cork Prison, the report noted that there were 40 drug seizures in 2024 and that waiting lists for addiction counselling were a concern.

While data on the average wait times to access addiction counselling services is not currently recorded, there was consistently over 800 people nationally on waiting lists to access services throughout 2024.

Overall, the IPRT recommends reducing overcrowding by setting and enforcing safe custody limits, expanding and resourcing community-based alternatives to custody, and ensuring access to services.

It also calls for investment in violence-reduction measures, and it urged the Government to prioritise smaller-scale, rehabilitation-focused detention, particularly more open prison spaces, rather than expanding large closed prisons.

This comes amid plans to build a new prison to cater for 230 male and 100 female inmates in Cork by 2031, on the site of the old prison which closed in 2016.