The head of the Irish prison system warned the Department of Justice she had “grave concerns” about the safety of staff and inmates because of dire overcrowding in jails.
A letter sent by Irish Prison Service director general Caron McCaffrey in 2024 said the Minister needed to think carefully about the appointment of 20 new judges, which would lead to a further influx of prisoners the service could not cope with.
“Undoubtedly a large element of the current overcrowding crisis is directly related to the appointment of additional judges,” the letter read.
“[This led to] the scheduling of over 600 extra court sittings this year, decisions taken when our prisons were already over capacity and not in a position to absorb the inevitable increase in committals safely.”
The correspondence was sent on a day in May last year when there were 4,960 people in the custody of the Irish Prison Service (IPS). That number has since risen as high as 5,400.
Ms McCaffrey’s letter has been released following an appeal to the Information Commissioner under Freedom of Information laws.
She wrote: “In the absence of an urgent decision [on temporary release measures], I need to advise you that I now have grave concerns in relation to the ability of this service to ensure the safety of both those who work and live in our prisons.”
Ms McCaffrey said with nearly 5,000 people in custody, prisons were already operating with “dangerous levels of overcrowding”.
She said there had been a sharp increase in temporary release to relieve pressure but all of the main prisons were well above operational capacity.
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Ms McCaffrey also told the department that the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) was due to visit in the coming weeks, writing : “[They] will be scathing in their criticism of the conditions we are being forced to hold people in with over 200 people sleeping on mattresses on the floor this morning.”
Ms McCaffrey said she wanted an urgent decision on new rules around who could and could not be given temporary release. She also asked for a commitment that no new measures would be introduced that would add to the burden, particularly then minister for justice Helen McEntee’s wish to appoint 20 new judges “with haste”.
An earlier letter from Ms McCaffrey from February 2024 to the department said the prison system was now in an “untenable, unacceptable and potentially unsafe situation” due to overcrowding.
She said there was a real risk the IPS would not be able to produce all prisoners for court hearings, saying it was “at a tipping point” in terms of its ability to fulfil that service.
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She said every possible measure had been used to ease overcrowding including the recommissioning of small areas of prisons to provide extra beds, provision of bunk beds, and reopening of the Training Unit at Mountjoy in Dublin.
“Despite these efforts, numbers continue to grow to record levels,” she said.
