Prison Overcrowding Response Group report

16th October 2024

Throughout 2023 (and into 2024) the prison service regularly operated above 100% capacity. The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) repeatedly criticised this practice.  

To address the overcrowding crisis, the Minister for Justice established a Prison Overcrowding Response Group in July 2023. The Group comprised officials from the Department of Justice and representatives from relevant agencies including the Irish Prison Service (IPS), the Probation Service, the Courts Service and An Garda Síochána, to identify measures to address capacity issues in the prison estate. 

According to the Group itself, “prison overcrowding involves the over-utilisation of physical space per prisoner in cells not intended for multiple occupancy, against the recommendations of the Council of Europe. The increase in population results in large numbers of prisoners sleeping on mattresses on the floor, and in the necessary redeployment of staff into landings, for safety reasons, diverting staff away from facilitating eclucot1on and rehabilitative services. Prison overcrowding leads to an increased risk of violence for prisoners, threatens the health and safety of prison officers, and undermines the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders, ultimately resulting in an increased threat to public safety.” 

The Prison Overcrowding Response Group submitted its final report to the Minister in March 2024. It has now become publicly available seven months later (in October 2024) due to a request made by Dr Ian Marder (Maynooth University) under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Acts. The report was kindly shared with the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT), which we are now publishing in full (see below). 

It should be noted, however, that since this report was submitted, the prison population has continued to grow, hitting record-breaking numbers of beyond 5,000 people in custody and often operating at 112% capacity across the prison estate, with certain prisons consistently experiencing overcrowding significantly beyond that. 

The Group initially put forward 11 recommendations (see page 4). On 29 February 2024, the Director General of IPS submitted five further related proposals which were submitted for consideration by the Minister (see page 4). All of these recommendations and proposals were actions that could be taken in the short to medium term. 

Following examination of the 16 proposals in total, the Minister for Justice approved 12 priority actions (see highlighted actions on the table on page 40). These include: 

1. To develop a new structured temporary release scheme for women serving sentences of 12 months or less.  
2. Review the processes and eligibility for the Drugs Treatment Court to increase the catchment of individuals sentenced to low-level drugs-related crimes.  
3. Recognising their constitutional independence, engage with the Judiciary and encourage the use of the community service orders rather than the imposition of sentences of 12 months or less.  
4. Establish a specialised Probation Service Supervised Temporary Release response which can be expanded and scaled in response to the growing pressures on the Irish Prison Service resulting from increasing prisoner numbers.  
5. Purchase Rapid Deployment Cells 
6. To review and amend the current delegated authority to the Irish Prison Service for the granting of temporary release and transfer to an open centre to include prisoners serving sentences of 8 years plus. This will facilitate better utilisation of open centre spaces and provide for the Judicious granting of temporary release to those serving longer sentences but who have stabilised within custody, thus presenting a lower risk in terms of reoffending. 
7. To amend the Criminal Justice (Community Service\ Act 1983 and the Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) Act 2011, as a legislative priority. to provide that the limit of community service hours be increased to up to 480 hours, and the requirement for the judiciary to consider community service be mandatory where considering custodial sentences of up to 2 years or less  
8. To repeal enactments providing for the ineligibility of those serving presumptive minimum sentences for Temporary Release, and parole.  
9. To prioritise progressing the Criminal Justice (Community Sanctions) Bill 2014, retaining the emphasis placed on prison as a sanction of last resort.  
10. To amend legislation that governs post-release supervision so that Court-ordered post-release supervision by the Probation Service can commence from the first date of Reviewable Temporary Release rather than the remission date.  
11. To reduce the number of prisoners remanded to custody instead of remanded on bail. This includes reducing the number of prisoners having to be committed to prison prior to taking up bail by requiring the Courts Service to make provisions to discharge bail at the Court, negating the need to process a prisoner through the committal process in a prison only to be released hours/days later when the cash bail is presented. 
12. That the Department of Justice commence engagements with the Department of Defence to clarify whether it is possible to secure access to the Curragh Military Prison for the Irish Prison Service which could provide up to 100 additional prison spaces. 

Read the Prison Overcrowding Response Group final report.

Read IPRT's press release responding to the report.