THE NUMBER OF prisoners in Ireland surpassed 5,000 for the first time last Thursday, as analysis by The Journal shows the number in custody has steadily climbed over several years.

There were 4,833 people in detention on average each month this year, up from 4,562 last year and a daily average of 4,122 in 2022.

By contrast, from 2014 to 2021, the average number of people in prison was consistently below 4,000, figures compiled by The Journal show.

A number of factors are believed to be behind the increase, including a backlog in sentencing from the Covid pandemic.

The Government has made plans for additional spaces across Irish prisons to deal with the increase in numbers.

It has allocated significant capital funding to the Irish Prison Service to increase capacity; however the additional spaces won’t be fully on stream until 2030 at the earliest.

The significant milestone was reached last Thursday, when the number of people in prison hit 5,002.

The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT), a campaigning organisation, said this milestone showed that “the Government’s approach to relieving the pressures on the bulging prison system is clearly failing”.

The Journal previously reported that the Government are may reopen the  decommissioned prison on the Defence Forces barracks in The Curragh, Co Kildare in an effort to tackle overcrowding.

A spokesperson for the Irish Prison Service (IPS) told The Journal that it is working alongside Department officials to “take steps to ensure a safe working environment for staff, and the safety and security of people in custody”.

“A multi-agency Prison Overcrowding Response Group has identified a number of proposals to address overcrowding, which are being considered,” they added.

As well as engaging with the Defence Forces on the re-commissioning of the site at The Curragh, the spokesperson said the response group is also working to develop plans for a site at Thornton Hall in Dublin.

“The group will seek to develop a plans for a modern and fit for purpose prison estate that is humane, safe and secure and which provides the most effective supports for the rehabilitation of offenders, ensuring alignment with evolving legislative, demographic and societal trends,” they said.

However, the IPRT has argued that the state is over-reliant on imprisonment for less serious offences and that reopening decommissioned sites is “entirely the wrong direction”.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice previously told The Journal that almost €50 million has been allocated to start delivery plans at Ireland’s four main prisons – Castlerea, Cloverhill, the Midlands and Mountjoy – to accommodate an extra 670 people each year.

The spokesperson for IPS said the injection of funding has the potential to bring 1,100 more spaces on stream between 2024 and 2030.

However, IPRT director Saoirse Brady said the provision of these additional spaces will “take years” and “won’t result in any improvement in the short to medium-term”.

The IPRT argues that a more comprehensive reform of the criminal justice system is needed, including the use of community-based sanction programmes in place of short-term prison sentences.

It argues that as well as alleviating overcrowding this would be cheaper for the taxpayer, while still allowing rehabilitation of people convicted of a crime and ensuring justice is delivered.

It says investment should be prioritised in upgraded addiction and mental health services, as well as housing supports, healthcare and step-down facilities in the community for people leaving prison. 

The Journal has previously reported on the “unstructured” use of the temporary release scheme by the Irish Prison Service in a bid to tackle overcrowding levels internally, after attempted capacity increases from successive justice ministers were not enough to alleviate the issue.