Overcrowding has increased by 33% since the inspection.

On Monday there were 404 inmates in the prison, meaning it was operating at 136% capacity, far above the national average of 122%.

The prison previously hit this record-setting figure when 403 people were incarcerated on August 19.

There were 397 people incarcerated in Cork prison, which has 296 beds, on Wednesday

Wheatfield Prison had the most drone incidents, or 283, followed by Mountjoy, 81, and Cloverhill, 73. There were 23 in Midlands Prison, 14 in Portlaoise, 18 in Limerick, and 11 in Castlerea.

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

The report, received by Government eight months ago, is expected to detail deaths linked to the prison, problems accessing a GP, and low staff morale in Cork Prison

Cork Prison has a capacity of 296 but has been over this every day since 2023.

A Cork TD has called on the Department of Justice to publish an inspection report it received more than seven months ago

Eugene Morgan, a consultant psychiatrist at Cork Prison who was called by the defence, has told the trial that the accused meets the criteria for the special verdict

Last week, The Echo revealed that there were five deaths linked to Cork prison last year, more than double the previous year.

The injured party was sharing a cell with the accused for approximately one week

Roman Becvár (29) appeared before Cork Circuit Criminal Court for sentencing, having pleaded guilty to a charge of assault causing serious harm.

The number of deaths linked to Cork Prison more than doubled last year, with the inspector of prisons saying overcrowding has played a role in the increase.

Roman Becvár (28) of no fixed abode previously pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to another prisoner at Cork Prison

The court was told that as a nurse attended to the injured party, he located the injured party’s ear in the blood on the floor.

Data on contraband seizures shows that there were 62 seizures in Cork Prison last year and 60 the year before, the lowest figures over the last 10 years.

A 44-year-old man who had completed a detoxification programme in Cork Prison died from a drug overdose while on temporary release three weeks later, an investigation has found

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.

Public representatives for the area have said locals were given commitments that the old facility would not reopen as a prison.

Last year, 1,122 people departed from the State under various mechanisms, an increase of 252%, compared to 317 in 2023.

There were 46 drug seizures in 2020, 69 in 2021, 42 in 2022, 36 in 2023, 40 in 2024, and 36 in 2025 up to the end of September.

The Irish Prison Service has reported the matter to gardaí, and an investigation will be carried out into the matter.

Cork Prison has a bed capacity of 296 but last Monday it reached its previous overcrowding record of 403, operating at 136% capacity.

The prison only has capacity for 296 inmates.

A total of 399 people were incarcerated in the facility yesterday, representing 135% capacity as the prison has space for just 296 inmates, meaning 103 people are without a regular bed.

The figures, which represent more than one in four inmates now without a bed, are up 18.5% on this day last year, and are the latest in a series of new records for the prison since the start of July.

The Department of Justice owns three vacant buildings nationally, with two of them in Cork city — Westview House and the old Cork prison.

There were 392 people in Cork Prison yesterday, close to the record high of 394 seen at the start of the week.

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

The report found that overcrowding in Irish prisons remains a “chronic issue”, with prisoners sometimes forced to live in “squalid conditions”.

There were 390 people incarcerated in Cork prison on yesterday, down from 393 on Thursday, which was a new record. The prison has a capacity of 296, meaning 97 people in the facility did not have a bed on Thursday and 94 on Friday.

In 2023, the average number of people in custody was 306. Yesterday, 391 people were in Cork Prison.

Yesterday, the prison hit a new record for overcrowding, for the eighth time in July. A total of 389 people were incarcerated there, or 131% of the 296 beds.

The prison is currently at 130% capacity, higher than any other men’s prison in the country.

Cork Prison has exceeded its own record for overcrowding for six days in a row, with 386 people in custody there on Thursday, representing 130% capacity.

The former record of 372 people in the prison, which has capacity for 296, has been broken the last four days in a row, with 384 people incarcerated there on Tuesday.

The prison broke its own overcrowding record for the third day in a row yesterday, with 382 people in custody.

Representatives of the Land Development Agency (LDA) attended the Dáil last week, taking several questions from elected members on housing projects.

Once the new unit, set to cater for 230 male and 100 female inmates, is in place, Cork Prison will have the capacity for roughly 636 prisoners.

The plan, brought to Cabinet yesterday by justice minister Jim O’Callaghan, could see the old prison torn down and replaced by facility for both male and female inmates. 

Micheál Martin told The Echo he would be supportive of a proposal to use the building to help address overcrowding at the current prison.

With reference to Cork, a spokesperson for the IPS told The Echo it is working on “a small capital project to provide accommodation for up to an additional 10 prisoners within the existing prison by reconfiguring areas into living accommodation”.

Justice minister Jim O’Callaghan said that the current programme for government “commits to implement electronic tagging” for appropriate offenders by the end of 2025.

Justice minister Jim O’Callaghan told The Echo last week that he believes the former Cork Prison should be used for prisoner accommodation “in the future”.

Mr O’Callaghan was speaking to reporters after a visit to Cork Prison on Friday.

There were 135 prisoner-on-prisoner direct physical assaults in Cork Prison last year, the second-highest amount in Ireland, according to figures released by the Irish Prison Service (IPS).

Figures provided to Fianna Fáil TD for Cork North-Central Pádraig O’Sullivan show that the daily average in custody in 2024 was 335, compared to 306 in 2023, 262 in 2022 and 255 in 2021.

With continued pressure on prisoner numbers nationally, the site has been identified as a possible location for additional prisoner accommodation.

In March 2023, an unannounced inspection was carried out in Cork Prison which was experiencing “unprecedented overcrowding at the time”, the inspector said.