No room at the inn - Laois jails bulging at the seams going into Christmas

There was no room for new prisoners at the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise while the neighbouring Portlaoise Prison is almost almost at capacity just days before Christmas but the Irish Prison Service says it has no choice but to accept new inmates.

Irish Prison Service (IPS) figures show that there were Midlands 877 inmates in the Midlands on Tuesday, December 20. While the jail has 875 beds, the IPS says the jail is operating at 100% of bed capacity.

A total of 899 prisoners are 'in the system' at the Midlands. There were 14 on temporary release with a further 113 defined as 'trial/remand'.

Meanwhile, next door in Portlaoise Prison there were Portlaoise 222 inmates locked up. That's just short of the 231 bed capacity with the IPS reporting a 96% occupancy rate.

The IPS says there are 224 'in the system' with two on temporary release with a further 18 defined as 'trial/remand'. The biggest block in the high-security jail  had just three space on December 20 with 178 of 181 beds filled. There was no space in the small E1 wing which has 10 prisoners. There were just six spare spaces in A Block which has a 40 bed capacity.

Nationally, the IPS says jails around Ireland were operating at 98% capacity with less than a week to go before Christmas Day. There were 4,312 people behind bards on December 20. There are 4,411 beds available in Irish jails as the year ends. READ WHAT THE PRISON SERVICE HAS TO SAY BELOW TABLE.

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Mountjoy, male and femle, Limerick, male and female, Castlerea were all operating at or above capacity on December 20.

The IPS replied in a statement to the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

"The Prison Service must accept all prisoners committed by the Courts and does not have the option of refusing to take prisoners into custody. The numbers in prison is, of course, subject to peaks and troughs.  Numbers are particularly high when the Courts are at their busiest and following the return to a more normal level of Court activity, committal numbers have increased across the prison system.

"While increases in prisoner population result in challenges within certain committal prisons, the Irish Prison Service takes all possible steps to alleviate the situation through a combination of inter-prison transfers and other contingency measures.

"The Irish Prison Service work closely with the Governors of affected prisons to alleviate capacity issues, by identifying prisoners who may be suitable for transfer to other prisons or prisoners who may be suitable for structured early release.

"Recent construction work in Limerick Prison has provided 22 additional female cell spaces which is expected to become operational in the first quarter of 2023. There has also been addition accommodation of 100 cell spaces construction in the male prison," it said.