Promise to expand Portlaoise's Midlands Prison in Laois not being kept

A Government pledge to expand the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise to create more badly prison places is not being kept, insists the Prison Officers Association. 

Speaking at the Prison Officers Association Annual Conference in Galway, Tony Power, POA President also lashed out over the problems his members face in Portlaoise and other locations caused by too many prisoners being locked up in jails that are too small.

“Overcrowding continues to be a major concern for prison officers and is causing a potentially explosive situation within our prisons. This creates huge problems for our members and creates a dangerous situation for both our members and prisoners,” he said.

Mr Power outlined the problems in a statement issued to the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

“Our members should not be expected to work in these overcrowded prisons and the people in custody should not be expected to live in these overcrowded conditions. Prison is meant to be about rehabilitation, but that rehabilitation is impossible when we don’t have the living space, the school spaces, or the workshop spaces to allow prisoners to engage constructively during their sentences. An idle mind is the devil's Workshop,” he said.

Despite this, he said the number of people in custody is rising daily. On the last day of April there were 5344 in custody, with 358 of those sleeping on floors.

“This is approximately 1500 prisoners more than at this time in 2019 when I asked the then Minister for Justice to take real action to ensure we did not return to the bad old days of Pack Em, Rack em and Stack Em and to the revolving door situation. This overcrowding situation is a disgrace and is potentially creating an explosive situation within our prisons," he said.

Mr Power said the association has tried to get the Government to act.

“We recently met with the Minister and officials to discuss this and other issues. But nothing and I repeat nothing will address this situation unless the Minister and his officials find the budget to create more prison spaces. We must all move on from the annual promises," he said.

He claimed successive ministers have failed prison officers and not delivered.

"Previous ministers made hollow promises of 650 extra spaces with new builds promised for Cloverhill, Midlands and Castlerea and a four-story block on the grounds of the old Separation Unit in Mountjoy. Two years on and not a sod has been turned on any of these projects,” he said.

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Power concluded that the safe working capacity of Irish prisons is 4300, over 1000 less than what is currently in custody.

"And I don’t want to sound alarmist, but if we don’t find an immediate solution to this problem, we will have a tragic event or some form of crisis on all our hands,” he said.

Speaking at the conference, the Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan admitted more has to be done.

He did not refer to the building of a new prison at the controversial Thornton Hall in North Dublin as is committed to in the Fianna Fáil / Fine Gael / Independent programme for Government.

The land was purchased for a prison for €30 million, but the project was subsequently shelved. The Minister responsible for its purchase was Michael McDowell. He was one of the few politicians who maintained support for the project until the current Govermment decided to resurrect the plan after the General Election in 2024.