Prison Census Reports April 2023

24th July 2023

IPRT welcome the publication of the April 2023 Prison Population Census reports on restricted regimes and cell occupancy and in-cell sanitation, which were published by the Irish Prison Service in the last number of days. While we very much welcome that this important data is published, we acknolwedge that it is a snapshot only and does not capture trends or day-to-day fluctuations.

Key points from the reports:

Restricted Regimes report

• Increase in the number of people held on restricted regimes (i.e., 19+ hours per day in cell) – from 668 in Jan to 776 in April, an increase of 16.2%.
• Decrease in the number of people in solitary confinement (i.e., 22+ hours per day in cell) – from 184 in Jan to 47 in April. This is the lowest it has been reported since the start of the pandemic. [As the Prison Census is a snapshot, it might have been lower, but that might not have been a census day.]
• In particular, on the day the census was taken in April, nobody was on 24-hour lock up. This is the first time nobody has been reported to be on 24-hour lock-up since data on 24-hour lock-up first started being published in Prison Census reports in January 2021.

Cell Occupancy and In-cell Sanitation report

• 43% of the prison population were held in cells that accommodated two prisoners. (1,968 prisoners in the prison population of 4,586 were held in 984 cells).
• The number of people in cells holding 4+ people has increased by 73% since January (from 100 to 173) [Cloverhill Prison has the most amount of people sharing a cell with 4+ people.]
• Increase in the number and proportion of people required to use the toilet in the presence of another prisoner – from 2,158 (49.9%) in Jan to 2,339 (51%) in April.

• Read the full Prison Census of Restricted Regimes April 2023 report here.
• Read the full Prison Census of Cell Occupancy and In-cell Sanitation April 2023 report here.
• All Prison Population Census Reports are available on the Irish Prison Service website here.