MORE THAN 70 inmates absconded from Shelton Abbey open prison in Co Wicklow last year following a marked increase in the transfer of prisoners there from secure prisons.
Of the 72 prisoners who absconded, 15 were still unlawfully at large at the end of the year, according to the annual report of the prison's visiting committee.
"We feel that there was not adequate selection of prisoners being transferred to Shelton Abbey," says the report.
It also reveals that a new block at the facility with 44 single-berth rooms was completed last year but remained empty because of staffing shortages.
News of the high number of absconders has emerged following confirmation by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern that prisoners classified as low risk are being transferred to Shelton Abbey ahead of their early release from the prison system.
The number of transfers increased by 200 last year to 600 as overcrowding in many prisons worsened.
The Shelton Abbey committee was one of a number of visiting committees to express concerns at overcrowding. Their concerns were echoed by committees visiting Limerick, Mountjoy, Cork and Cloverhill prisons.
Most said the overcrowding situation at the jails was now so acute it was leading to increased tensions that could reach dangerous levels.
The visiting committees are appointed by the Minister for Justice.
They visit jails throughout the year to carry out inspections before compiling an annual report for the Minister.
The reports have been published by the Department of Justice.
As well as overcrowding, common themes throughout many of the reports included the availability of drugs in jails and the detention of mentally ill persons in prisons.
Many of the committees welcomed recent efforts by the Irish Prison Service aimed at controlling the flow of drugs into jails.
These include the introduction of sniffer dogs as well as screened visits and the enhanced searching of visitors.
However, the visiting committee of Mountjoy prison, Dublin, said drugs were widely available, with non-drug users being pressured by others to smuggle in contraband.
The visiting committee at Limerick prison said prisoners who were drug-free on committal risked becoming addicted because drugs were so readily available.
At Wheatfield prison, Dublin, non-drug-using prisoners and their families were being pressured into bringing in drugs.
Some of the annual reports complained that changes to prison officers' working practices in recent years had led to staff shortages for a number of educational projects.
In Wheatfield prison, while 459 library sessions went ahead last year, 478 were cancelled.
In Mountjoy prison, 300 library sessions were cancelled.
The working practice changes involved the abolition of paid overtime in exchange for an agreement by prison officers to work an additional seven hours per week for a salary increase.
The practices were introduced under former minister for justice Michael McDowell in a bid to end an overtime regime under which around 3,000 prison officers were earning more than €60 million in annual overtime payments.
The visiting committee of the Midlands prison, Portlaoise, described as "wholly inadequate" the provision of just one psychologist for a prison population of over 450 inmates, many of whom are sex offenders or are serving life sentences.