The Irish Penal Reform Trust has described conditions at the prison - where 10 inmates were sleeping on mattresses on the floor last Friday - as "inhumane"
The IPRT says the Government needs to invest in community service orders, probation supervision in order to free up the country's prisons
Saoirse Brady of the Irish Penal Reform Trust told RedFM News that the over reliance on short custodial sentences is leading to an overcrowding problem
"But we understand that the Irish Prison Service has to accept anybody who is put into their care, so we need to look at why community sanctions are not being used more, why people aren't able to serve their sentence in the community, because we know that where they do, they get access to services that they need and are much less likely to reoffend so it makes sense for everybody"
Meanwhile
In a statement issued to RedFM News the Prison Service says it has been working closely with the Department of Justice to ensure a safe working environment for staff and the safety and security of prisoners in custody. The Prison Service are taking a number of short and medium term steps to address the issue of increasing prison numbers. Government has provided significant capital funding to the Irish Prison Service in order to enhance existing prison infrastructure
The recent commissioning of a new male and female prison accommodation in Limerick Prison will provide an additional 90 male spaces and 22 additional female cell spaces. This new male and female accommodation is now fully open and operational.
A Review of Policy Options for Prison and Penal Reform 2022-2024 seeks to find the balance between ensuring that people who commit serious crimes receive a punishment and a period of incarceration proportionate to that crime, while at the same time acknowledging that sometimes community based sanctions are more appropriate in diverting offenders away from future criminal activity.
The former Minister for Justice Simon Harris announced last April that he had brought a memo to Government outlining capacity issues in prisons – both in terms of the scale of the problem faced and how we might progress medium and longer-term solutions for it. Working with Officials in the Department of Justice and the Prison Service, the Minister has identified 4 short-term capital projects at the existing Castlerea, Cloverhill, the Midlands and Mountjoy prisons that could deliver over 400 prison spaces over the next 5 years. That would provide accommodation for a minimum of 620 additional prisoners. The Department of Justice are engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on this with a view to progressing an agreed schedule of capital builds across the prison estate
