Ireland’s prison system is “overwhelmed, overstretched, and unable to uphold the fundamental rights of many people in its care,” according to a new report from the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT).

The report assessed 35 human-rights-based standards across the prison and wider penal system, including conditions, regimes, and the overall effectiveness and humane practices within the system.

IPRT Executive Director, Saoirse Brady told Newstalk Breakfast that the findings of this report have reached a crisis level.

 “We were able to fairly assess 31 of those standards, and we found progress in only three,” she said. 

These improvements were related to education, training, political and civic participation, and parole.

“But there was regress or rollback on 11 standards, including safe custody limits and humane conditions,” she added.

Brady said the core issue lies in the sheer number of people being sent to prison, particularly for short sentences.

“Because of the overwhelming nature of the number of people coming through its doors and gates, it’s just fighting a losing battle against this overcrowding,” she said.

Last year, Ireland neared what was considered the crisis figure of 5,000 people in prison.

“Yet yesterday there were 5,700 people in prison, with over 600 of those people sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a cell,” Brady noted.

Midlands Prison in Portlaoise. Image: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie

She highlighted that three out of four committals last year were for sentences of 12 months or less, meaning most people were imprisoned for less serious offences. 

This, she said, creates a “knock-on effect” for those serving longer sentences, who are increasingly unable to access rehabilitation programmes.

“We are seeing a huge number of people going in with mental health issues, addiction issues, or who’ve experienced trauma,” Brady said.

“We need to understand and address [these issues] if we actually want to stop people re-offending in the future.”

Future solutions

When asked whether building more prison spaces was the solution, Brady disagreed:

“While there was a 9% increase in the population since 2022, there was also a 7% reduction in crime since 2019,” she said.

“So I would question why we are sending more people to prison when we actually have a reduction.”

Instead, she argued that Ireland must focus on rehabilitation, alternatives to custody, and reducing re-offenders.

“I would like to see fewer people go into prison when they don’t need to,” Brady said.

Written by Annemarie Roberts