Mass arrests of foreign nationals in advance of deportation flights have resulted in spikes in prisoner numbers in some jails, with space on the floor for mattresses having almost run out in one Dublin prison recently for the first time. The overcrowding crisis events are arising as prisoner numbers are already at record levels, and growing six to seven times faster than before.
Prison sources familiar with the situation told The Irish Times deportees were being “dumped” into jails, often for long periods, though they had committed no crimes, and with no notice to the Irish Prison Service. Intended deportees were now “competing for floor space with violent offenders, sex offenders, murderers”, as were others now in jail in the Republic.
The problem has arisen again in recent days following the arrest, and lodging in prison, of dozens of South Africans last Thursday. They were detained during a Garda National Immigration Bureau operation in advance of deportation charter flights in the next 10 days.
At the end of last week there were 5,805 prisoners in the system – 556 on mattresses on floors – and that number looks set to reach 6,000 for the first time later this year. Staff are concerned at the record rate of growth in the prisoner population, especially over the past 12 months.
READ MORE
The Irish prisoner population reached 4,000 for the first time in 2009 and had grown to 5,000 for the first time by 2024. That means whereas it took 15 years for the number of prisoners to increase from 4,000 to 5,000, the increase from 5,000 to 6,000 is on course to occur within a two-year window.
The Department of Justice said Minister Jim O’Callaghan and the Government were “acutely aware of the capacity constraints in our prisons” and the challenges that posed for prisoners and staff. It added prisoner numbers were growing because gardaí were solving more crimes and there were now more court sittings.
However, steps had already been taken to introduce the electronic tagging of prisoners, outside jail settings, and to divert away from jails women charged with crimes awaiting trial. Prison spaces would increase by 1,500 by 2031, with €527 million already approved by Government.
The Irish Prison Service said it “must accept into custody all people committed to prison by the courts” and, as such, “has no control over the numbers committed to custody”. Temporary release was used to alleviate overcrowding, while considering “the safety of the public”.
It added the Government had made “significant capital funding available” to provide additional capacity, which had increased by 418 berths since 2022, with plans for 1,500 additional prison places.
Last Thursday 14 South African women were lodged into the Dóchas Centre, the women’s prison on the Mountjoy campus, Dublin. They were detained in a Garda operation so they could be deported on the latest Government-chartered deportation flight. That brought prisoner numbers there to 236, though it has a bed capacity of 146 and was designed for 85.
[ Women prisoners left to huddle in doorways during storm while locked outsideOpens in new window ]
The South African men arrested last week for the deportation flight were taken to Cloverhill Prison, Dublin, with a group of about 30 lodged there. Late last year, when numbers spiked after deportation flight-related arrests, there were fewer than 10 spaces remaining for mattresses on the floors at Cloverhill Prison.
“Getting to those kinds of numbers ... single-digit numbers for mattresses on floors in jails is completely new,” said one prison source.
Other prison sources said increasing Garda numbers, the appointment of more judges, population growth, deportation group arrests and legislation increasing sentences for some crimes were all contributing to the rapid rate of growth in the prisoner population.
[ Overcrowded prison conditions ‘inhuman and degrading’, says inspectorOpens in new window ]
Last Friday, the female prison in Limerick had 95 prisoners and was operating at 170 per cent of its 56-bed capacity. The Dóchas Centre was at 162 per cent capacity, Portlaoise Prison at 138 per cent, Cork Prison at 135 per cent and Mountjoy men’s jail at 134 per cent. Overall, the prison system was at 123 per cent capacity, with the lowest capacity – of 96 per cent – at Shelton Abbey Open Prison in Co Wicklow.
