Mounting pressures cramming already full Irish prisons

Last October, the Department of Justice said  Minister for Justice Ms McEntee was engaging with Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath with a view to progressing an agreed schedule of capital budgets. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

Last october, the justice minister travelled to Limerick to open a new “state of the art” female prison.

The new unit, which could hold 56 inmates, replaced the continually overcrowded old unit, which had just 28 beds. It includes a mix of apartment-style units and a mother-and-baby unit, all with individual en-suites.