That's according to the head of the prison service as the numbers in jails hit 5-thousand by the end of last year.
The Irish Prison Service's annual report shows there was an increase of over 150 per cent in the number of inmates having to sleep on mattresses because of overcrowding.
Prisoners in Cork are being temporarily released in effort to manage overcrowding at the prison which at times has been operating at 136% capacity
Almost 500 million euro has been pledged by the government to increase capacity in the State's prisons
