The highest number of prisoners on record are now being held in Irish jails - as bosses scramble to deal with an overcrowding crisis.
On Tuesday the Irish Prison Service marked a record 4,718 prisoners in the system - with only 4,478 beds available.
That is the highest number of Irish prisoners in custody on record - but there are concerns that that number is set to grow even larger in the coming days due to ongoing court proceedings. As of Tuesday there are 219 prisoners sleeping on mattresses due to the overcrowding issue.
The Dochas Centre Women’s Prison is currently the most over capacity - recording 173 prisoners in the system - despite there only being 146 beds on Monday.
