OFFICIAL policy and lack of space restricts the number of prisoners held in the Republic's prison system to around 2,000 despite the fact that about 12,000 people are committed to prison annually.
An attempt by the last two Ministers for Justice to ease the prison accommodation pressure by building a new prison in Co Roscommon and to keep offenders in prisons for something closer to their actual sentences was overturned last autumn by budget cuts.
The £20 million prison at Castlerea, Co Roscommon, was the first serious attempt to extend the State's secure prison accommodation to meet the increase in serious crime. There are now around 100.000 "indictable" offences committed annually, many by offenders on temporary release.
Garda and prison officer representatives argue consistently that the only way to reduce crime is to create more prison space. However the State's official policy is that the real level of criminal behaviour in society dictates that there should only be around 2,000 people serving prison sentences.
This policy outlined by a senior Department of Justice official at a Prison Officers' Association (POA) conference in Donegal last year insists that the State does not maintain "warehouses" for human beings and that prolonged detention for all but the most dangerous criminal is pointless and even inhuman.
Some additional places for "ordinary" non political criminals will be provided by the emptying of Portlaoise high security prison of IRA prisoners but this is unlikely to have an impact on reducing the early release system, known as the "revolving door" system.
Between 400 and 500 prisoners, out of a prison population of around 2,000, are on temporary release (TR) at any given time, according to statements given to the Dail by the Minister for Justice, Ms Owen. Many of these prisoners are released after having served only half of their official tariffs.
The Waterford man arrested during yesterday's attempted robbery of the Bank of Ireland in Waterford city had served just about half the official tariff of a six year sentence. While his early release was not unusual, his case was in that part of his parole conditions included his deportation. He illegally reentered the State and came under Garda surveillance before yesterday's robbery.
Gardai in Waterford who had known the man's past were reported to be angry that he had been granted early release less than half way through a substantial jail sentence for armed robbery.
The early release system, due to pressure on accommodation, is the cause of regular controversy when prisoners re offend seriously. Sex offenders often pose the greatest danger in early release. One prisoner, Martin Farrell (28) brutally raped a young north Dublin woman on the night he was released early from prison.