The Government is exploring the possibility of constructing a new prison in west Dublin to deal with overcrowding.
Speaking at the annual conference of the Prison Officers Association (POA) last week, Minister for Justice Simon Harris said in addition to expanding existing prisons, the Government is considering building a new facility.
Minister Harris said that the Thornton Hall site near Kilsallaghan in north Dublin is a possible location.
The site was purchased by the State during the mid-2000s and was earmarked for a new super-prison to replace Mountjoy.
However, the plans were later abandoned due to the economic downturn.
Minister Harris said that the expansion of Mountjoy, Cloverhill, Castlerea, and Midlands prisons will take up to five years to complete and will add 400 new cells to prison system.
“This would provide accommodation for a minimum of 620 additional prisoners,” Minister Harris said.
“The era of not expanding prison spaces is over.”
In April, it was reported that the prison system was operating at 104 percent capacity and that more than 160 prisoners a day were consistently sleeping on mattresses on the floor.
Minister Harris said the State must also consider the growing population when deciding on pursue the expansion.
“We must prepare for a period of significant population growth and ensure we have the capacity to meet the needs of the criminal justice system,” he said.
“This week I brought a memo to Government outlining capacity issues in prisons – both in terms of the scale of the problem faced and how we might progress medium and longer-term solutions for it.”
The President of the Prison Officers’ Association (POA), Tony Power said overcrowded prisons create the “perfect atmosphere for the bully to thrive.”
“I am seriously concerned about the levels of overcrowding in our prisons, levels that put both our members and individual prisoners at risk,” he said.
“Regretfully we are back to pack ‘em, stack ‘em, and rack ‘em days.
“We once again have single cells doubled up, mattresses on floors, prisoner population going through the roof – and the only solution seems to be the purchase of bunk beds?”
Director general. Caron McCaffrey confirmed that bunk beds were ordered for Mountjoy Prison to reduce the numbers sleeping on mattresses in the short-term.
However, many cells are too small and are only designed for one inmate.
The need to separate some prisons due to gang affiliation is also putting pressure on the system, McCaffrey said.
Although there are technically 4,400 spaces in the system, the true capacity is closer to 4,200 as some prisoners cannot be held in the same cell.