Prison service at breaking point due to overcrowding crisis - report

Ellen O'Donoghue

The prison service is at breaking point due to an overcrowding crisis.

That is one of the findings from the Irish Penal Reform Trust's 2024 progress report.

It found that the system had regressed in 11 areas, including humane prison conditions, time out of cell, and the use of force and restraints.

No one should be expected to live in those conditions, Executive Director of the Trust, Sarah Brady, told Newstalks.

"Yesterday there were over 600 people sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a prison cell, beside a toilet, an open toilet that others have to use in front of them, there’s just a lack of dignity, the Irish prison system is overwhelmed, it’s overstretched, and it just can’t uphold the fundamental rights of so many people in its care," Ms Brady said.

However, creating more space will not help alleviate the prison overcrowding crisis on its own, the Trust said.

The report also said that Ireland is falling behind in its care for prisoners.

The prison population exceeded 5,000 for the first time last year, while around 600 prisoners are sleeping on mattresses on the floor.

It is not as simple as building more prisons, Ms Brady said.

"Everyone from the inspector of Prisons to the European Committee in the Prevention of Torture and ourselves agree you cannot build your way out of an overcrowding crisis, particularly when it costs over €100,000 to keep a person in prison for a year, that money would be better and more wisely invested in supports to ensure that that person doesn’t reoffend," she said.