Large-scale arrests and the detention of foreign nationals are intensifying pressure on a prison system that is already overcrowded and close to breaking point, reports Breaking News.
Sources within the prison system told BreakingNews.ie that it is becoming increasingly routine for people in the asylum process who are awaiting deportation to be committed to prison, adding further strain to facilities that are already operating significantly above capacity, reports Breaking News.
The issue has come into focus again after 14 South African women and more than 30 men were transferred to the Dóchas Centre and Cloverhill Prison following a standard check-in at the Garda National Immigration Bureau on Thursday. The detentions took place ahead of a deportation flight scheduled for the coming days.
Leanke, one of the South African women being held, spoke to BreakingNews.ie about her experience, reports Breaking News.
She said 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, aged 36, has been detained in the Dóchas Centre along with 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 detained have not been told the reasons for their imprisonment, when they will be removed from the country, or what awaits them next.
Within the prison, they are being accommodated alongside inmates who have already received sentences, reports Breaking News.
Angelia Russell, a South African activist, told BreakingNews.ie she has been in contact with a number of those detained. She said they are “terrified” about being housed with “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 added that several of her friends had to sleep on the floor for their first two nights due to a shortage of available 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 director general of the Irish Prison Service wrote to the Department of Justice warning that Cloverhill, the State’s main remand facility, was operating at 125 per cent capacity and had room for just three additional prisoners.
According to The Irish Times, the Dóchas Centre was 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 stated that “the Irish Prison Service has no control over the numbers committed to custody at any given time”.
A spokesperson said that although Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan is “acutely aware” of the overcrowding crisis, prison populations have continued to rise due to an increase in court sittings and garda detections, reports Breaking News.
Specifically regarding the detention of asylum seekers prior to deportation, the department said this is an “operational” matter for An Garda Síochána, reports Breaking News.
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