New wings are to be added to Mountjoy, Cork and Midlands prisons and work is to begin on a new jail at Thornton Hall in Dublin as part of a €400 million project to tackle record overcrowding in the prison system.
The project, which will also involve refurbishing existing facilities, will increase prison spaces by around one third, making it the most significant expansion in State history.
However, sources warned that few funds have not been allocated yet and the completion of the project will depend on many factors, including the availability of capital and revisions to the National Development Plan.
Irish prisons are currently at 118 per cent capacity, with around 5,500 inmates occupying space designed for 4,600. In response, the Government committed to constructing 1,500 additional spaces.
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The roadmap to providing these spaces is set out in a collection of tendering documents from the Irish Prison Service, which is seeking to establish a panel of qualified construction firms to handle the project.
The first stage is the expansion of D Wing in Cloverhill, a Dublin prison mainly used to house inmates on remand. The four-storey expansion will include “modern cells” with toilets along with disabled access and close-supervision cells. New fences, yards and security infrastructure will also be built.
Under preliminary plans, this will be followed by the construction of new wings at Mountjoy and Midlands Prison. New inmate accommodation will also be built at Cork Prison.
According to tendering documents, contractors may also be asked to undertake “possible enabling and ancillary works at Thornton Hall” followed by the construction of accommodation buildings there.
The Programme for Government commits to the construction of a new prison at Thornton Hall. The site in county Dublin was first purchased by the Department of Justice in 2005 for €151 million with a view to constructing a large prison there to replace Mountjoy.
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However, these plans were shelved when the recession hit. Last year, it was expected that the site would accommodate up to 1,000 asylum seekers. However, this plan was delayed by a court challenge from local residents. It has also been proposed as a location for social housing.
According to the documents, the prison building project is estimated to cost about €400 million plus VAT over the course of four years.
“It should be noted that this may change in light of economic circumstances, availability of funding and the overall operational needs and requirements of the Irish Prison Service,” the IPS states.
Several other measures have been adopted to reduce prison numbers, including the expansion of temporary release and community service programmes.
The IPS is also consulting the Defence Forces about the possibility of reopening the military prison in the Curragh Camp for civilian purposes. This could provide up to 100 additional spaces.
