According to a report issued today by the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT), there is concern over the welfare of prisoners that have to use the lavatory in front of other prisoners; this is because of overcrowding, it states.
The report shows that in June last year the prison population exceeded 5,000 for the first time ever. There were 213 inmates sleeping on mattresses on the floor by the end of 2024.
According to the executive Director, Saoirse Brady, the situation has deteriorated since the report was issued and there are now 600 of the 5,700 people incarcerated sleeping on mattresses.
Notably, she admitted that the figures were based on the information they have and not based on them going into every prison to form a comprehensive study.
Apparently, we should be horrified that there were bunkbeds and a mattress discovered in a cell in Mountjoy – though, as I will get to below, the IPRT don’t see more prison spaces as a solution!
Well, I’m not. Imagine committing a crime and finding yourself with 3 free meals a day, education, heat, access to a library, comrades left and right, free medical and dental care, and the difficulty you might face is that you have to sleep on a blanketed and warm mattress on the floor!
Let us for a second consider the homeless Irish person lying on a freezing cold street corner, in a damp sleeping bag, with their stomach rumbling waiting for the kindness of homeless charities to show them some dignity and human kindness.
Or consider the fear experienced by those who have suffered verbal and physical abuse while homeless. It takes extraordinary strength to carry on in the hope that things may get a little better – that somehow your basic needs will be met.
Now offer this homeless person a warm mattress in a building where they will get three meals a day, medical care, access to a library and education and ask them why they aren’t crying over the plight of convicted criminals.
Let us also consider the victims of crime. Those who are left with a dread of leaving their home because of an unprovoked attack. Those that were fleeced of their money by an unscrupulous fraudster. The children that are afraid to go to sleep because an intruder stole their sense of security. The person who has worked hard to pay for their car insurance only to have their no claims disappear because of an uninsured joyrider. The elderly lady or gent that no longer feels safe on their own street because of the thug that stole their pension or purse.
When any of those mentioned above start to feel sorry for the prisoner having to lay his head on a mattress perhaps the rest of us will follow suit.
Until then, be grateful for the mattress, thousands of innocent homeless, who never broke the law, or terrified anyone, or stole what wasn’t theirs, would be grateful for the luxury.
There’s another factor to consider: clearly a reason for overcrowding is that we haven’t enough prisons or prison spaces, yet the the authors of this report don’t want more prisons built.
In fact, their report, which was widely covered by the media today, wants overcrowding addressed “but warns that building more prison spaces is not the answer”.
The report also calls for the incorporation of the principle of prison as a last resort into legislation through enacting the Criminal Justice (Community Sanctions) Bill 2014.
Other recommendations include more investment in community sanctions and alternatives to prison, investment in supports for mental-health services and addiction, ratifying the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT), and enacting the Inspection of Places of Detention Bill.
Sounds like a system where more thought is given to the perpetrators than the victims of crime. Want my recommendation? If our prisons are overcrowded, build more. And in the meantime don’t expect sympathy from me while thousands of children are homeless.
Adrienne Acton writes from Cork