Improvements in prison estate being ‘undermined’ by overcrowding

Recent improvements in Ireland’s prison estate are being undermined by continued overcrowding, the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) has said following the launch of the Irish Prison Service’s annual report.

The IPRT called on Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan to reduce prisoner numbers to promote prisoner rehabilitation and public safety.

It also called for the adequate resourcing of the new Joint Irish Prison Service & Probation Service Strategic Plan 2018-2020.

According to the IPS annual report for 2017, the overall daily average number of prisoners in custody in 2017 was 3,680 compared to 3,718 in 2016, a small decrease of 1.1 per cent.

However, the IPRT warned that this trend was beginning to reverse, with 3,995 people in prison custody as of 20 June 2018, up by 9.6 per cent from 3,646 people in prison custody on 31 December 2017.

Deirdre Malone, executive director of the IPRT, said: “There is a disconnect between stated departmental policy and the reality of crowded prisons. In 2018, numbers in prison have been accelerating towards 4,000 again, with 6 of the 10 closed prisons operating over capacity and the Dóchas Centre regularly running at over 130 per cent. As long as numbers are at this level, it’s impossible to have any meaningful interventions or to tackle offending behaviour.

“The number of prisoners participating on the highly successful Community Return and Community Support Programmes has almost halved since 2014, and the numbers serving short custodial sentences continues to be higher than the numbers serving Community Service Orders. This runs counter to the recommendations of the Department of Justice and Equality ‘Strategic Review of Penal Policy’.

“We welcome the departmental commitment to review the eligibility criteria for early release programmes. This should be fast-tracked. Additionally, the probation and prisons strategies published today must be adequately resourced, and any new legislation introduced by Government must align with agreed penal policy.

“In August 2018, the Irish Government will be reporting to the UN Committee against Torture. Unfortunately, all of the progress that the Government was able to report in 2017 is at risk of being reversed unless immediate action is taken to reverse the drift upwards in prisoner numbers.”