The Irish Prison Service requested that the Department of Justice drop its prohibition on temporarily releasing prisoners held on immigration-related offences, as a result of the severe overcrowding prisons are experiencing.
Emails released to Gript following a Freedom of Information request reveal IPS Director General Caron McCaffrey emailed a senior department official asking that previous instruction that prisoners held on immigration-related offences not be granted temporary release be reconsidered in light of the pressure the prison system is under.