Ireland's prison system is "overwhelmed, overstretched and inhumane", according to the 2024 Progress in the Penal System Report by The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT).
The report showed that in June last year the prison population exceeded 5,000 people for the first time, with 213 people sleeping on mattresses on the floor at the end of 2024.
However, IPRT Executive Director Saoirse Brady said the situation in prisons has deteriorated since the latest report was carried out.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Ms Brady said of the 5,700 people currently in prison, more than 600 were sleeping on mattresses on the floor, which is triple the number at the end of last year.
She said that although the IPRT did not go into every prison, "a lot of the research is actually based on the evidence that's available to us."
Ms Brady said in Mountjoy Prison, for example, they visited cells with a bunk bed and mattresses on the floor.
"There's very little floor space. You're talking about a cell that's really the size of a car parking space.
"And the person who draws a short straw and has to sleep on the floor, has to sleep with their head beside an open toilet that other people have to use in the middle of the night", she said, adding that "62% of people have to use the toilet in front of another person" which is "inhumane."
Ms Brady said both the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and the Office of the Inspector of Prisons have raised concerns about this.
She added that there are unsafe custody levels across all prisons in Ireland.
"The Irish Prison Service would say that a safe, the maximum capacity that they should have to operate prison safely is 95%, yet yesterday we were running at 123% and that rose to 164% capacity in Limerick Women's Prison and over 150% in the Dóchas Centre, which is the Dublin women's prison."
Ms Brady said that the problem does not all fall at the door of the Irish Prison Service.
"We've seen an increase in the number of people going into prison from homelessness.
"We've seen people going in with clear addiction issues, but they don't get the support that they need in prison because they're in for such a short period of time.
Ms Brady said imprisonment should be seen as a last resort, "enshrined in law and implemented in practice."
She added: "We need to see fewer people going to prison for less serious crimes, and we need to see more community-based sanctions available to them."
She noted that the Minister for Justice has brought forward proposals around expanding community service for people who would otherwise serve a sentence for up to two years.
"That will help, but it must be implemented as a matter of urgency," she said.
