CRACK DOWN ON MIGRANTS..FREE RISKY CRIMINALS

THE Department of Justice was warned that a crackdown on undocumented immigrants would lead to more serious and high-risk criminals having to be given temporary release from jail.

- BY KEN FOXE

The head of the Irish Prison Service said a Garda decision to bring charges against individuals arriving in Ireland without valid documents was contributing to “unsafe and unmanageable” levels of overcrowding.

In a letter to a senior department official, IPS Director General Caron McCaffrey said in normal circumstances, low-risk offenders on short sentences were the first to be offered temporary release.

She said this would normally include those in custody for immigration offences but that the Department of Justice had made a deliberate policy decision to keep them in jail.

Ms McCaffrey said that while the move was “understandable,” it was adding to the immense pressure on the Irish prison system.