By Amy Campbell EchoLive.ie
More than one in five people in Cork prison don鈥檛 have a bed, as the prison broke its overcrowding record this week.
There are 376 people in Cork prison today, a new overcrowding record and representing 127% capacity, making it the most overcrowded men鈥檚 prison in the country.
On Thursday, 374 people were in the prison and on Tuesday and Wednesday there were 371 people in custody there, the same as the previous record which was set in February of this year.
There are 296 beds in the prison, meaning 80 people were sleeping on the floor or on mattresses, or more than 21% of the total amount of people in the prison.
A spokesperson for the Irish Prison Service said it 鈥渕ust accept into custody all people committed to prison by the Courts. As such, the Irish Prison Service has no control over the numbers committed to custody at any given time.鈥 Last month, plans to demolish the site and build a new prison alongside the current facility, catering for an additional 230 male inmates and 100 female inmates by 2031, were put forward by justice minister Jim O鈥機allaghan.
The plans have been opposed by TDs and councillors representing the local area, including Sinn F茅in TD for Cork North Central Thomas Gould.
Mr Gould told The Echo: 鈥淭he Irish Prison Service and the government have known about shortage of prison spaces for years and they鈥檝e failed to act 鈥 talking about building a new prison up the country,鈥 but this was not delivered, he said.
鈥淭he average prison sentence is four months鈥 it鈥檚 like a revolving door. IPS have told me in meetings with them and in D谩il committee last year, if people have got a very short sentence, there鈥檚 no incentive to get help.
鈥淚f they engage with addiction services, that might help them when they come out, so they鈥檙e not back into prison again afterwards. We need more investment in education, treatment services 鈥 a lot of these sentences are as a result of people being in the throes of addiction.鈥
Mr Gould also said: 鈥淐ork is a remand prison where people are held waiting for trial, the courts take so long that people are in prison for longer 鈥 we need more investment for the courts so that these cases are dealt with in a timely manner.鈥
He added: 鈥淭he government鈥檚 solution to build a new prison in Cork won鈥檛 be delivered until at least 2031 if not longer, we have a crisis in the prison service now. We need to come up with solutions, but not in the Glen. They have one prison and that is enough for any community.鈥