Prison overcrowding in Ireland has forced more than 300 inmates to sleep on mattresses on cell floor, according to the Prison Officers Association.

Ireland’s current prison population is just over 5,000 but Association President Tony Power told Newstalk Breakfast that “we’re probably somewhere in the region of about 800 over capacity”.

“I raised this issue in my address to conference in 2019 asking the then Minister to do something about the problem of overcrowding, as we were about to hit [a prison population] of 4,000,” he said.

“We’ve had a 25% increase in the numbers of prisoners in that time.”

Prison fence, © PA Archive/PA Images

Irish prisons were designed with the principle that each prisoner would have their own single room.

However, Mr Power said it “is nearly the case at this stage that nearly every cell is doubled up”.

“You’re putting bunk beds into already overcrowded prisons,” he said.

“I’ll give you an example; one day last week, one of the landings in the Midlands Prison B1 had over 80 prisoners on the landing that was designed initially to hold 34 prisoners.”

Unsustainable

Mr Power said installing bunkbeds in cells is not a sustainable solution, as prison services and staffing levels would still be based on a single-cell occupancy rate.

“Staffing is one issue and we welcome any increase in staffing levels but there also has to be services for the prisoners,” he said.

“It’s not a case of lock them up and throw away the key – they have to be fed, they have to have visits, they have to have tuck shops, [et cetera].”

Male prisoners inside common social areas of prison near Houston, Texas. Image: Marjorie Kamys Cotera/Bob Daemmrich Photography / Alamy. August 2013

According to Mr Power, the Prison Officers Association has offered alternatives, which include re-opening prisons and prison blocks.

“We have also put forward alternatives to look at the re-opening of the old Cork prison, the re-opening of the Curragh prison, the E Block in Portlaoise currently [is not being used at full capacity],” he said.

“The Prison Service Commission reports on both the old Cork prison and the Curragh prison but they haven’t shared them with us.”

Mr Power said that 330 extra bunk beds have been installed in Irish prisons in the last 12 months.

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Main image: An arrested woman stands with her hands in handcuffs. Picture by: Alamy.com