2026-03-19

3. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration if he will respond to reports that women prisoners are being held in degrading and overcrowded conditions in the Dóchas Centre; and whether the Government accepts that continuing to rely on incarceration without sufficient investment in alternatives to custody, risks simply warehousing vulnerable women in the prison system. [20842/26]

Will the Minister respond to reports that women prisoners are being held in degrading and overcrowded conditions in the Dóchas Centre? Does the Government accept that continuing to rely on incarceration without sufficient investment in alternatives to custody risks simply warehousing vulnerable women in the prison system? The phrase "warehousing vulnerable women" is not something I have concocted myself. It was used in a report presented to the Minister's Department, which has yet to be released.

I thank Deputy Gannon very much for his question. I am concerned about overcrowding in the Dóchas Centre, the female prison in Mountjoy. To make the House aware of some statistics regarding the centre, as of yesterday, there were 223 women in custody in Mountjoy, 29 of whom were on mattresses. The centre's bed capacity is 146. I am concerned about this. I previously said that I do not have the same level of concern in respect of the women's prison in Limerick, which I know the Deputy has visited. That is true because, as I am sure the Deputy will appreciate, that is a very modern prison. What is the solution to this? Part of the solution has to be creating more spaces within the Dóchas Centre. I am not saying that is the only solution but it must be part of it. There are plans to build another 65 spaces across the prison system in 2026, 26 of which will be new spaces for the Dóchas Centre. That will increase capacity to 172. As I have indicated previously, I have got approval from Government to develop further prison spaces between 2026 and 2030. The projects that I have got approval for include an extension to Rowan House at the Dóchas Centre that is expected to accommodate 50 female prisoners. There has to be some recognition that more spaces are required. That is my response in respect of that. An awful lot of work is also being done to ensure that services are provided to facilitate women in availing of supervised temporary release. A scheme is being run by the Irish Prison Service to support the needs of women who are transitioning from prison to the community. The pilot is located in Limerick women’s prison and I am advised that, to date, over 50 women have accessed the scheme, with approximately 25 successful completions. An evaluation of the programme is under way. I will give the Deputy further information on my proposals when I respond to him again.

I thank the Minister for his response. The figures are fairly stark. Last night, the Dóchas Centre was at 153% of its capacity and 29 women were sleeping on the floor. Can the Minister imagine what that does to a person's capacity for rehabilitation and sense of place in the world? I understand these people have committed crimes and that there are consequences to that but the consequences of placing people in these conditions go well beyond what is appropriate to the crime, impacting their families and their children. I appreciate the Minister has said that 26 extra spaces will be provided at the Dóchas Centre during his term but that same report that has not been released yet also highlighted the fact that the Garda National Immigration Bureau is showing up at overcrowded prisons to place people into them without any consultation with the prison guards. That is extraordinary and it is happening on the Minister's watch. These 26 extra spaces will not fix this. We need something far more radical and different.

To deal with the issue of the report, that report will be published this week. I only got to look at it in the past ten days or so. I have approved it and it will be published this week. On the other measures that can be put in place, I do not believe prisons are the solution to all of the ills of society. We obviously need a combined approach in respect of these issues. The Probation Service plays a very important role. This year, it is providing over €21 million in funding to 60 community organisations to cover the costs of providing services and programmes. Probation obviously plays a big role. When this House enacts the miscellaneous provisions Bill, it will provide for the greater use of community sanctions and community service orders. With regard to what the Deputy has said about deportations, I recognise the pressures this puts on the prison system. Perhaps we need a separate place where people who are going to be subject to enforced deportation can be detained. That is something I will look at.

I would definitely like to hear a lot more about these separate places because we still have not ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, OPCAT, on the prevention of torture. Today, I am here talking about the Dóchas Centre. A couple of weeks ago, I was talking about the women's prison in Limerick. The conditions in the men's prisons are extraordinary. We had the Inspector of Prisons before the committee a couple of months ago and his contribution was jaw-dropping. He spoke about conditions in our prison system being tantamount to torture. We know recidivism rates are nearly seven out of ten in this country. Is it time to be more radical? What would a citizens' assembly on prisons and incarceration in this country look like? We should begin a full exploration of our prison system. What is working and what is very clearly not working? What do we need to do differently and what can we do differently? Do we really need to imprison women whose children will have to visit them and be traumatised by that prospect? There are a lot of things we can do if we had a vision for something very different. Clearly, what we have is not only not working, it has been described as being tantamount to torture.

I do not agree that it is tantamount to torture. Like the Deputy, I have visited the majority of prisons. I have visited seven, and I will be visiting another one very shortly that I have not visited already. There is a lot of excellent work going on in prisons. Many people who come out of prison do not go on to offend again. That is particularly the case in respect of serious offences. I am well aware that there are people in prison who, because of addiction issues or chaotic lives, do go on to commit further offences. That is a challenge in terms of how it can be responded to. I engaged with the Inspector of Prisons, Mr. Kelly, and had a good conversation with him in respect of this issue. At present, we have about 5,800 people in prison. We have a population of 5.5 million. Ours is not a society that is at the higher echelons of incarceration, either in Europe or across the wider world. We have a moderate view in terms of who needs to be incarcerated. As the Deputy knows, however, there are debates in this House on a variety of issues, including that of victims saying that they want justice, and justice sometimes requires incarceration.