Almost 600 individuals were forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor of Irish prisons in 2025 with overcrowding presenting “significant challenges”, the Irish Prison Service’s (IPS) annual report 2025 has found.
The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) expressed “deep concern” at the data, and questioned the State’s “ongoing reliance” on imprisonment for short sentences and remand as well as the continued rise in prison costs.
By the end of 2025 the prison population reached 5,753, up 15 per cent on 2024. Of those, 596 individuals were forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor, an increase of 180 per cent on 2024.
The report said overcrowding remained a “substantial barrier to effective rehabilitation”, adding that the prison system is “operating above its designed capacity”.
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