Mass arrests and the detention of foreign nationals are adding further strain to a prison system that is already overcrowded and close to capacity.
Prison sources told BreakingNews.ie that it is becoming increasingly common for people in the asylum process who are awaiting deportation to be sent to jail, compounding pressure on facilities that are already operating far beyond their limits, reports Breaking News.
The issue has resurfaced after 14 South African women and more than 30 men were transferred to Dóchas Centre and Cloverhill Prison following a routine check-in at the Garda National Immigration Bureau on Thursday. The move came ahead of a deportation flight scheduled in the coming days.
Leanke, one of the detained South African women, shared her experience with BreakingNews.ie, reports Breaking News.
She explained that her husband and brother were killed in South Africa within a “short space of time”, in “acts of violence that destroyed everything [she] knew”.
“Home no longer meant safety. Grief became something I carry every single day,” she said, reports Breaking News.
“I did not leave to seek opportunity. I left to survive.
“I came here with the… belief that Ireland could offer safety, dignity, and a chance to rebuild a life that was violently torn apart,” reports Breaking News.
Leanke, 36, has been held at the Dóchas Centre alongside her 69-year-old mother since Thursday.
“Sitting beside my mother, watching her fear, feeling my own terror, is something I never imagined after already surviving so muchloss.
“We are terrified. Not because we have done anything wrong, but because our lives feel once again out of control,” reports Breaking News.
Those being detained have not been informed of the reasons for their imprisonment, the timing of their departure, or what will happen next.
Inside the prison, they are being housed alongside individuals who have already been sentenced, reports Breaking News.
Angelia Russell, a South African campaigner, told BreakingNews.ie that she has been communicating with those detained. She said they are “terrified” about being placed in the same facility as “criminals who have committed serious crimes”.
“One of the men detained has longer hair and the prisoner keeps stroking his hair and it’s making him feel extremely uncomfortable,” she said, reports Breaking News.
She also stated that several of her friends were forced to sleep on the floor during their first two nights due to a shortage of beds.
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission said the use of “administrative detention” for immigration-related reasons is “problematic”, reports Breaking News.
“Immigration detention is not a criminal sanction. Holding people in penal institutions risks conflating administrative processes with criminal punishment and raises concerns regarding proportionality, conditions, and safeguards,” a spokesperson said.
“This is particularly in the current context where prison capacity and overcrowding have been highlighted,” reports Breaking News.
Recently, the head of the Irish Prison Service wrote to the Department of Justice stating that Cloverhill, the State’s primary remand prison, was operating at 125 per cent capacity and had space for only three additional inmates.
According to The Irish Times, the Dóchas Centre was running at 162 per cent capacity on Friday, reports Breaking News.
“These people are not criminals,” Russell said. “They came with their original documents, clean criminal records and have only ever complied with the state.
“They came for safety, not to be persecuted,” reports Breaking News.
The Department of Justice said that “the Irish Prison Service has no control over the numbers committed to custody at any given time”.
A spokesperson added that although Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan is “acutely aware” of overcrowding issues, inmate numbers have continued to rise due to an increase in court sittings and garda detections, reports Breaking News.
In relation specifically to the detention of asylum seekers ahead of deportation, the department said the matter is an “operational” issue for An Garda Síochána, reports Breaking News.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.
