The Prison Officers Association is demanding urgent action.
Over 350 inmates are being forced to sleep on the cold, hard floors of overcrowded cells.
Prison officers have warned it’s going to cause a potentially explosive situation.
In Dublin’s Mountjoy, 87 are on mattresses, doubled up in cramped cells.
While, Limerick’s women’s prison is at a shocking 152 percent capacity.
It’s a grim testament to the spiralling crisis within our prisons.
The Prison Officers Association says there are around 1500 more people behind bars than in 2019.
At its annual conference today, it will demand urgent action to tackle what it calls an unsustainable and dangerous system.
It has warned if an immediate solution isn't found there will be a tragic event or some form of crisis.
The POA also says that despite promises of 650 new prison spaces by Justice Ministers over the last five years, nothing has been done.
