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EUROPE’S PRISON POPULATION is increasing, with many countries around the continent, including Ireland, experience dangerous levels of overcrowding.
According to analysis of the latest data from Eurostat, Europe’s central statistics database, there was a 3.2% increase in the continent’s prison population in 2023.
That year, 13 countries in Europe were experiencing overcrowding. Very high levels of incarcerations were also recorded between 1993 and 2023.
In Ireland, where prison capacity on Friday was recorded at a level of 117%, the issue with overcrowding has been deemed a crisis by legal experts, staff unions and senior sources within the Irish penal system.
An increase in the number of judges, changes to legislation and sentencing guidelines, as well as underinvestment into the prison estate in the country have been contributing factors to the crisis.
The Eurostat data shows, however, that this trend has been occurring across EU member states over a 30-year period. At its peak in 2012, prisons in Europe were accommodating 533,000 people.
Government has initiated an expansion plan for the construction of 1,500 new places – but industry associations like the Irish Prison Officers Association believe that “building out” of the problem is not the solution.
Speaking at an event in May, President of the association Tony Power said that investments must be made into the existing system to provide more spaces.
Staff should not be “expected” to work in overcrowded conditions, he added.
Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan has pledged to find ways to accelerate the delivery of more prison spaces.
A senior source at the service previously told The Journal that building more spaces, given the timescale involved in capital projects, is not seen as an option.
This has led to an increase in the number of people sleeping on the floor in Irish facilities, something the Irish Penal Reform Trust deeply condemns.
These figures are so high that the service started recording them in official daily statistics this year. On Friday, 404 people were sleeping on mattresses the ground in Irish prisons.
French prison population levels reached record highs in March as a total of 82,152 people – roughly the same size of a full house at Croke Park – were in custody in French prisons that month. The official capacity is 62,539.
More than 4,500 people were sleeping on the floor at French facilities – 15 of which are at 200% capacity.
France’s Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin has called for the deportation of foreign prisoners so that they can serve their sentences in their home nations.
In Ireland, however, the Irish Penal Reform Trust has called for imprisonment to be regarded as a “last resort” and for alternative measures, such as community service or supervised temporary release, to be encouraged.
The Irish Prison Service has increased the population of prisoners on temporary release, which sees the supervised release of low-level, non-violent offenders serving sentences outside of prison under strict conditions.
The State has been criticised for allowing the temporary release scheme as a pressure valve to overcrowding, but sources in the prison management say the programme is the only way it can maintain safe population levels at facilities in the country.
In Austria, experts say prison sentences are still too common and, often, people are committed for minor offences. Facilities in the country are at 108% capacity, as of May.
In Spain, the country has adopted a more rehabilitative approach. It allows prisoners a gradual transition to more open regimes, based on their behaviour and risk of re-offending.
Similar programmes are available in Ireland. Data from Spain shows that 80% of people released from prison do not return to crime.
Overcrowding is reducing the population’s access to services in Ireland. Sources have said that offenders placed on supervised release or short sentences are, sometimes, not provided with any rehabilitative care.
The head of the Irish Prison Service told reporters last month that up to 2,000 prisoners are currently on waiting lists to access psychology support services.
Director General Caron McCaffrey said there are also smaller waiting lists for other services, such as addiction therapy, education and training programmes.
She said a “whole of government approach” is needed to boost services such as education, training and therapy in prisons.
Responding to questions by The Journal in May, she admitted that people are sometimes released before receiving care.
High levels of overcrowding at prisons in Austria is leading to similar issues to what is seen in Ireland, where prisoners outnumber support staff. The European Court of Auditors recently criticised Vienna’s lack of investment.
Changes are being led from prison management, however, to boost rehabilitation resources in Irish prisons. Existing staff are being upskilled and trained on methods to provide and assist in the care of prisoners with mental health issues.
Additionally, a peer-led, pilot programme has been launched in Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison which trains and educates prisoners on providing addiction care to others.
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This article is part of PULSE, a European collaborative journalism project.
With reporting by Maria Delaney (The Journal Investigates, Ireland), Davide Madeddu (Il Sole 24 Ore, Italy), Kim Son Hoang (Der Standard, Austria) and Ana Somavilla (El Confidencial, Spain) as well as translation services by Ciarán Lawless (Voxeurop).
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