Over 1,000 people sent to jails in Ireland last year were released within 24 hours, without having spent one day in prison. The information was revealed during the Prison Officers Association (POA)’s annual conference, which took place at the Galmont Hotel in Galway on Thursday.
The Prison Service has defended the use of temporary release to alleviate overcrowding, as the number of early releases doubled to almost 600 as the problem of overcrowding accelerates.
Director general of the Irish Prison Service, Caron McCaffrey insisted that they are “not just opening the door and letting people out,” and that only non-violent offenders, most with addiction and mental health issues, are being released. Ms McCaffrey has been accused by prison officers of overseeing a “revolving door” system, however she has claimed that early releases are taking place in a controlled manner, with supports put in place for prisoners.
Some 595 prisoners are currently on what is deemed temporary release – having been released early and not obliged to return to jail. This is twice the number recorded in March 2023, when rules around temporary release were relaxed amid worsening prison overcrowding.
Ms McCaffrey has pointed to a “finite” number of beds in the Irish prison system. Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan is considering tagging as an alternative to remanding in people custody, something which Ms McCarron said would offer “some respite” to the prison system.
The issue of early release has been an ongoing point of contention, having been raised repeatedly in the Oireachtas. Last October, Senator Sharon Keogan said that the prospect of early release for convicts was a “ghastly” one – saying it was a prime example of the misallocation of resources “caused by the Irish asylum industry” which she claimed was “eating our State alive.”
Referring to a report by the Irish Penal Reform Trust on overcrowding, she said that the State’s prison service, “just like our education and health services, is swamped and the Department of Justice is doing everything in its power to cover up this reality as it considers the ghastly prospect of early release for convicts.”
The 2024 report said that community services could come to replace various aspects of penal servitude, with Keogan hitting out at the prospect of “even those convicted of sexual crimes to be potentially released in the hope that a simple ankle tag will prevent them from reoffending.”
“Would you trust a simple ankle tag to prevent a convicted rapist from reoffending should they be released back into the community? I certainly would not for my family, which is why I worry about the prioritisation of international protection applicants over keeping Irish prisons operational,” she said. “Thornton Hall, which was previously earmarked as a new custom prison to cater for an overflow from Mountjoy, is instead now designated to become an asylum megacentre providing tented accommodation for potentially thousands of international applicants.”
The Senator added: “While Irish prisons struggle with a spike in drug deaths, there is rampant crime and a growing wave of dysfunction in the Department of Justice, which is eager to trade away valuable development sites to provide for disproportionately bogus asylum applicants. There is a genuine, compassionate argument for an increase in non-custodial sentences or vocational programmes to replace penal servitude, something for which many reformers have advocated for years. This is, however, no argument for the implementation of reckless early release schemes to feed an asylum system that continues to mutate out of control.
“Ireland’s prison population has seen one of the fastest growth rates in Europe, with a 12% increase in the incarceration rate between 2022 and 2023. It stands to reason that we desperately need every acre of prison space we can get to grapple with this issue. Ideally, this would free up a prime site at Mountjoy for eventual development. The French author Victor Hugo once wrote “he who opens a school door, closes a prison.” Perhaps a modern Irish variation would be closing a prison to open an asylum centre.”
“And building prisons is extremely expensive. In relation to the extra 1,100 places, you’re talking close to half a billion euro in terms of construction at today’s costs.”
Ms McCaffrey said she saw the “benefits” of electronic tagging of prisoners if it were used as an alternative to remanding suspects in custody after they are charged with crimes.
“The remand population has doubled in the last five years, we’ve almost 1,000 people on remand,” Ms McCaffrey said. “And in certain circumstances we are releasing certain [sentenced] people to make way for the remand population because there‘s no potential for us to release anyone who is on remand.”
Director of the Prison Service, Caron McCaffrey has pointed to the building of prisons being “extremely expensive,” highlighting construction costs. She has said that she sees the “benefits” of electronic tagging of prisoners as an alternative to remanding suspects in custody after they have been charged with crimes.
“The remand population has doubled in the last five years, we’ve almost 1,000 people on remand,” Ms McCaffrey said. “And in certain circumstances we are releasing certain [sentenced] people to make way for the remand population because there‘s no potential for us to release anyone who is on remand.”
ATTACKS SPIKE
During Thursday’s conference, the organisation also said attacks by inmates on prison officers had increased by 32 per cent last year, with 145 officers injured.
According to Galway Bay FM, POA President Tony Power used his address to urge Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan, to tackle prison overcrowding, saying that the issue could lead to a “potentially explosive situation.” The conference heard that there are currently 5,344 people in custody, with 358 of those prisoners sleeping on mattresses on floors.
Minister O’Callaghan said: “While the prison estate is currently expanding, I know it is not expanding at the rate that is urgently needed. Since 2022, capacity has been increased by more than 300 new spaces with 139 delivered in the last 12 months alone and more than 90 to be added this year.
He said that Budget 2025 increased funding to €525 million to tackle overcrowding and increase capacity.
“This year, the Irish Prison Service capital budget is €53 million, also focused on providing additional prison spaces.”
According to the POA, attacks by prisoners on prison officers rose by 32 per cent last year, with a total of 145 officers having been attacked. Last year saw an increase of over 20 per cent in prisoner on prisoner and other assaults in Irish jails.
During the annual conference in Galway city, graphic images were shown to delegates featuring injuries – including one of an officer who had his face slashed.
POA General Secretary Karl Dalton said prison officers need the full support of gardaí and the full justice system to deter attacks. Mr Dalton told RTE News that prisoners were being “thrown into cells on top of one another” and that overcrowding was damaging vocational and educational programmes in jails.
“Structured activities are needed to keep inmates active and away from drugs,” he said.
At the end of April, the Prison Officers Association said that research indicates that up to 70% of prisoners have mental health issues ranging from anxiety and low-level depression to Psychosis.
“Additionally, up to 70% of prisoners have addiction issues. Regretfully, many prisoners are committed to our prisons because of the shortage of beds and accommodation in suitable hospitals or institutions,” the organisation said.
The organisation said that mental health had become an issue for all in prisons.
The POA said: “In 2015 the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture(CPT) observed that “Irish prisons continued to detain persons with psychiatric disorders too severe to be properly cared for in a prison setting”. Our members are then asked to deal with ill people on a 24/7 basis without any formal training. The increase in the bed capacity at the Central Mental Hospital has done little to alleviate the problem with many prisoners spending an unacceptable length of time on the waiting list for a bed there.
“With its policy on overcrowding the Irish Prison Service is contributing to the deterioration of prisoners’ mental health. Prisoners are sleeping on floors in overcrowded cells, often with people they never met before with their heads beside toilets in case they get hit on the head by an officer opening the cell door in the morning. Promoting Positive Mental Health…. I think not!”
“The Minister must be aware that these prisoners pose a continuing challenge and threat to staff and add to the ever-increasing workload of already overburdened prison officers. Once again, our members are going above and beyond the level to which they have been trained and this is totally unacceptable and increases the risk for all involved.”