In a letter sent to the department in February 2024, IPS director general Caron McCaffrey said that a Garda policy of bringing criminal charges against people arriving in Ireland without valid travel documents was contributing to “unsafe and unmanageable” levels of overcrowding across the prison system.

Under the Immigration Act 2004, entering the State without a valid passport is a criminal offence, punishable by up to 12 months in prison or a fine of €3,000. While not new, the offence has been enforced more rigorously in recent times, in response to rising numbers of undocumented arrivals.

In correspondence released under freedom of information legislation, Ms McCaffrey told a senior department official that the normal practice in such situations was to prioritise the temporary release of low-risk, short-term offenders – a category that would typically include those imprisoned for immigration offences. However, she said the department had made a deliberate decision to keep such individuals in custody.

While describing that approach as “understandable”, she warned it was placing intense strain on the system. “It will unfortunately necessitate the early release of more serious and high-risk offenders to make space in already overcrowded prisons, instead of offenders deemed to be low risk, from a reoffending and community safety perspective,” she wrote.

Ms McCaffrey said the prison service was entering a “catastrophic period”, with the number of inmates reaching record levels daily. She urged the department to urgently reconsider both the use of temporary release and the categories of offenders to whom it could apply.

In stark terms, she cautioned that failure to act could “result in violent disorder within our prisons, threatening the safety and well-being of both our staff and those in our care.”

She said all available options for the early release of low-risk prisoners had been exhausted and asked the department to consider temporary release for “medium to high-risk sentenced offenders”. This would include individuals with convictions for offences such as burglary and assaulting gardaí or peace officers.

Notably, Ms McCaffrey also called for a reassessment of the ban on granting temporary release to sex offenders, particularly older individuals with historic convictions, those engaging in rehabilitation, or people who were medically dependent.

“It is recognised that this is a difficult category due to the victim issues and the fact that people convicted of a sex offence pose a low risk of very serious harm, while other types of offenders pose a high risk of less serious harm,” she stated.

“However, other categories being considered for temporary release as part of crisis measures pose a much greater risk to public safety.”

Ms McCaffrey also repeated calls for the reopening of the disused Curragh Prison in Co Kildare to ease the crisis.