Overcrowding in country's prisons a 'national scandal', says Prison Officers Association
Continuing overcrowding in the country’s prisons is a serious safety risk, the Prison Officers Association Annual Delegate Conference has heard.
Today in Castlerea Prison, there are 471 prisoners in custody. The prison, which has a bed capacity of 381, has 57 prisoners sleeping on mattresses on the floor. Nationally, today there are 5,826 in custody with a bed capacity of 4,737.
The POA’s Acting President Peter Redmond told the conference that the overcrowding is a national scandal.
“We now have a record 5909 prisoners, on 24th March 2026, in custody in our prisons, which have a capacity for 4736 prisoners. This represents a shortfall of 1173 bed spaces,” he said.
“Overcrowding allows the bully and the gangs to thrive and ensures that the vulnerable prisoner becomes even more vulnerable. The level of intimidation, violence, availability of contraband; to include drugs weapons and phones, all increase in an overcrowded environment.
"Despite the fact that the prison population has doubled to 5909 in the past 26 years, just one new prison has been built in this time, the Midlands prison. This overcrowding issue was first raised by the Prison Officers Association, some 50 years ago but successive governments have failed us and the prisoners we are supposedly rehabilitating. The Midlands prison for example has a bed capacity of 891. There are 1,128 prisoners in custody there today and 160 prisoners are sleeping on a cell floor. Is this progress – no it’s neglect and a lack of interest and real commitment, to a vulnerable section of our society.”
He added that the POA was amazed to see the construction of 30 single occupancy modular housing units,10 in Loughan House, 10 in Shelton Abbey and 10 in Castlerea prison, for a cost of approximately €15 million.
“We can all recognise that independent living units are needed for long term prisoners coming to the end of their sentences to progress towards release. While we fully agree with the concept, what we strongly disagree on is the building of single occupancy independent living units for an outrageous cost, at a time when Mountjoy prison is operating at 324 prisoners over its capacity.”
The conference is also due to discuss what the POA says is the significant increase in violence within the prison system during 2025.
