Prisons were functioning under such severe overcrowding that senior officials cautioned they could soon be unable to accept additional inmates and would face difficulties producing prisoners for court appearances, reports Breaking News.
In a blunt warning, the Director General of the Irish Prison Service said the State’s primary remand facility was operating at 125 per cent of its capacity and had space for only three more prisoners, reports Breaking News.
Caron McCaffrey stated that once those three remaining mattresses were occupied, there would be “no further secure accommodation” available at Cloverhill Prison.
Ms McCaffrey revealed that six prisons were running at between 123 and 154 per cent of their intended capacity, reports Breaking News.
She warned there was an “unprecedented risk” across the prison system due to the escalating overcrowding crisis.
Correspondence sent to the Department of Justice stated: “It is likely our ability to continue to receive committals out of hours, our ability to produce ever increasing numbers of prisoners to court and our ability to accommodate prisoners once we run out of secure cell accommodation will be impacted in the coming weeks and months,” reports Breaking News.
The Director General described the situation as “critical” and sought an urgent meeting of the overcrowding taskforce.
When the letter was issued last October, the prison population stood at 5,581 — around 20 per cent above official capacity, reports Breaking News.
McCaffrey wrote: “Certain prisons are now under extreme duress as a result of operating at higher-than-average capacity,” reports Breaking News.
She also circulated a UK document outlining how authorities there dealt with a comparable overcrowding crisis, particularly in relation to establishing “operational capacity limits.”
“A review by the Department of the governance structures in place to support the management and mitigation of risk across the sector is, in my view, now critical,” the letter concluded, reports Breaking News.
In reply, Oonagh McPhillips, Secretary General at the Department of Justice, said officials were “acutely aware of the difficult circumstances.”
She wrote: “I can assure you that the Department will support you in whatever way possible during this very challenging period,” reports Breaking News.
McPhillips noted that the National Development Plan provided for prison investment and that additional resources had been allocated to the Probation Service to help ease pressure on the system.
In a letter sent in early November, she stated: “Once again, I want to put on record my appreciation of the work being done by you and your staff in very challenging circumstances,” reports Breaking News.
The UK paper addressing how it handled overcrowding indicated that rising inmate numbers were partly linked to a political narrative focused on being “tough on crime.”
It pointed to a reduction in community-based sanctions, increased recalls to custody while on temporary release, and an overreliance on short-term prison sentences, reports Breaking News.
The document said operational ‘red lines’ were introduced to define the maximum number of prisoners that could be safely accommodated, with the understanding these thresholds would not be exceeded.
The presentation stated: “It assists in managing pressures to ensure the safety of staff and prisoners, this includes restricting crowding to limits it has assessed as safe,” reports Breaking News.
It further noted that approximately 500 spaces were kept in reserve for emergency use in the event of sudden capacity losses due to incidents such as fires or water outages.
When asked about the documents, which were obtained under Freedom of Information, the Irish Prison Service said it had nothing further to add beyond the material released, reports Breaking News.
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