Stark immigrants crackdown alert as prison boss warns move risks high-risk criminals being released due to overcrowding
JUSTICE chiefs were warned a crackdown on undocumented immigrants would lead to more serious and high-risk criminals being freed from jail.
Irish
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Irish Prison Service boss Caron McCaffrey shared her concerns with the Department of Justice
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The note said the IPS was heading into a 'catastrophic period' and that numbers in custody were reaching new highs every day
Credit: Getty Images - Getty
She said a
Ms McCaffrey told a senior official that normally low risk offenders on short sentences were the first to be offered temporary release.
This would include those in custody for
She said that while the move was 'understandable', it was adding to the immense pressure on the prison system.
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Her letter said: '[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 re-offending and community safety perspective.'
The note — sent in February 2024, but only just released under FoI laws — said the IPS was heading into a 'catastrophic period' and that numbers in custody were reaching new highs every day.
Ms McCaffrey asked for urgent changes in temporary release, saying the IPS had exhausted all options around freeing low-risk lags.
She said they must look at freeing 'medium to high-risk sentenced offenders'.
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And she urged the Department to look at allowing
Ms McCaffrey said: '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.
'However, other categories being considered for temporary release as part of crisis measures pose a much greater risk to public safety.'
The IPS had no comment.
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