Prison committals fall by 12 per cent in 2016

Ireland saw a 12 per cent reduction in prison committals last year, according to the Irish Prison Service’s annual report for 2016.

Welcoming the report, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said: “We must continue to ensure that violent offenders and other serious offenders serve appropriate prison sentences while at the same time switching away from prison sentences and towards less costly non-custodial options for non-violent and less serious offenders.”

Ms Fitzgerald also noted the 15 per cent reduction in committals for the non-payment of a court ordered fine in 2016. Even greater reductions of up to 50 per cent have been seen in the first quarter of 2017.

She also welcomed the Probation Service’s annual report, which showed an increase in the number of Community Service Orders issued by the courts to over two thousand in 2016.

Fíona Ní Chinnéide, acting executive director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT), said: “The fall in prison committals is very positive, and marks a shift away from Ireland’s chronic over-reliance on prison as a response to failures in social policy.

“The clear statement by the Tánaiste that prison should be a sanction of last resort is strongly welcomed by IPRT.

“However, the lack of published prison inspection reports since autumn 2014 means that we don’t know enough about the realities on the ground in Irish prisons. In July 2017, Ireland will be quizzed by the UN Committee against Torture on how it protects against potential human rights abuses behind prison walls. Now is the time to strengthen and better resource key systems of prisons oversight, including prison inspections, monitoring and independent complaints mechanisms.”