THE Irish Prison Service is set to spend €4 million on clothes for inmates including dressing gowns, underwear and pink t-shirts.
Prison bosses this week issued a tender looking for companies to provide clothing for lags in prisons across the country.
The tender is worth €1 million a year for the next four years with the prison service seeking a range of clothes for inmates with specific details on colour and material.
For example, the tender seeks thousands of white polo neck t-shirts for male inmates along with crew neck t-shirts that are pink for female lags.
The company that bags the contract will also have to provide red anoraks for prisoners, with the prison service requesting that the jackets should have no pockets and no hoods.
Thousands of pairs of underwear are also to be supplied under the contract with polyester and cotton boxer shorts for men that are white in colour.
For women, the tender seeks mixed colour underwear that are 100 per cent cotton and have frill elasticated waists.
The contract will also purchase dressing gowns, pyjamas, tracksuits and leggings for prisoners.
Runners will also need to be provided that are secured by straps instead of laces.
The business that wins the contract will be asked to deliver clothes to all 14 prisons across the country including the stores at Ireland’s only maximum security jail in Portlaoise.
The €1 million a year tender is actually a drop in the price from what the prison service were willing to pay for clothes the last time they issued this tender.
In 2020, the IPS were offering €1.3 million a year for prisoners’ clothing as they sought thousands of t-shirts, runners, socks and sets of pyjamas.
It comes as the head of the Irish Prison Service Caron McCaffrey wrote to the Department of Justice to warn about the dangers to staff and inmates due to the current overcrowding crisis.
The latest figures show that there are 5,413 prisoners in Irish prisons with 404 of these inmates sleeping on mattresses on the floor because there are not enough beds.
Prison service boss Caron McCaffrey warned the Department: “I need to advise you that I now have grave concerns in relation to the ability of this service to ensure the safety of both those who work and live in our prisons.”
Ireland’s only maximum security prison in Portlaoise will also receive clothing supplies[/caption]
