Just over a quarter of prisoners who applied to the Minister for Justice for early release last year were successful, the lowest proportion in a decade.
Under prison rules, most inmates are entitled to an automatic 25 per cent remission on their sentence. It is also open to prisoners to apply to the Minister for enhanced remission, which grants a 33 per cent sentence discount, if they have been of good behaviour and are judged to be unlikely to reoffend.
Figures released under Freedom of Information legislation show that 288 prisoners applied for enhanced remission last year. Of these 81 (28 per cent) were successful.
The approval rate is significantly lower than that of every year since 2014, when 27 per cent were successful.
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For example, 41 per cent of applicants for enhanced remission were approved in 2022 and in 2015 just under half were approved.
Over the last decade, a total of 2,410 prisoners applied for enhanced remission and 983 (31 per cent) were successful.
The granting of enhanced remission is the responsibility of Minister for Justice Helen McEntee but she can delegate this power to the director general of the Irish Prison Service (IPS) Caron McCaffrey.
Anyone who is not serving an indefinite sentence, such as a life sentence, can apply for enhanced remission. However, it is typically only granted to prisoners who have proactively engaged with training and rehabilitation services.
The IPS said applications can be refused for various reasons, including the nature and gravity of the original offence, previous convictions and the inmate’s behaviour in custody. Officials may also consider the view of gardaí and “the manner in which a prisoner has taken steps to address their offending behaviour”, the IPS said.
The decline in prisoners being approved for enhanced remission comes at a time when prison officials are increasingly using other forms of early or temporary release to ease record overcrowding in the Irish system. As of last Friday, the prison system was at 110 per cent capacity, with just under 5,000 people in jail.
The number of prisoners being granted temporary release has increased 60 per cent in the last 18 months, since qualification requirements were relaxed in March of last year.
The rules for the granting of temporary release were loosened then following a submission to Ms McEntee from the IPS recommending various measures to alleviate overcrowding.
Despite its name, temporary release can take several forms, including permanent early release, as long as prisoners are of good behaviour, and time-limited release to allow prisoners take up employment or prepare for the end of their sentences.
The rapid increase in prison numbers has left officials scrambling to find additional places through cell audits and the refurbishment of existing buildings. The IPS is also considering using the military prison in the Curragh camp for civilian prisoners. It said 200 new prison beds have come online in recent years and that there are plans for another 1,100 by 2030.
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