The Irish Prison Service pleaded with the Department of Justice to stop scheduling extra court sittings and to consider using cells in garda stations for prisoners.
A message from their director of operations said they had done everything in their power to deal with overcrowding in jails as numbers in custody approached 5,000.
However, the senior official said they had now run out of options and “decisions outside of their control” meant the number of people in prison would continue to rise.
The email was sent last summer as the Irish Prison Service (IPS) struggled with high levels of overcrowding, which have since deteriorated further.
The director of operations – whose name was withheld on security grounds under Freedom of Information laws – said there were “no easy or palatable decisions” left.
He said the UK government had just introduced emergency measures and delayed some court cases due to their own problems with overcrowding.
The message said there were eight steps that needed to be considered or reconsidered as a “matter of urgency” to ease pressure on Irish jails.
This included: “Cancellation of scheduled additional court sittings and a commitment that no further additional sittings will be arranged pending prison capacity being addressed.”
He also called for the decision to appoint or reassign criminal judges to be reconsidered and that cases involving asylum claims be dealt with in “alternative facilities.”
The director of operations said Ireland should also consider delaying court cases and using garda cells to house prisoners.
He added: “[We should] reconsider the proposal to unilaterally increase the rate of remission provided for under current legislation.”
The email said a new policy on bail was needed urgently to ensure people awaiting trial for “non-serious offences” were not sent to jail.
An eighth suggested measure was redacted from the records on the basis it could compromise the security of the prison system.
In a remarkable side note to the decision, the IPS withheld the name of the governor of Mountjoy Prison and their director of operations from the records on security grounds.
The name and photograph of the Mountjoy governor are on their official website; the name and photograph of the director are easily found in public relations photos and other materials from the IPS.
The records below were only released following an appeal to the Information Commissioner.