Deirdre Malone

Deirdre Malone, executive director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT), told Irish Legal News that the news “demonstrates positive progress in Irish penal policy over the last 10 years”.

The 165-acre Thornton Hall site was acquired in 2005 in order to house a new prison proposed by then Justice Minister Michael McDowell, which would have been the largest prison in Ireland.

However, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice told The Irish Times that it has now offered “the bulk of the site” to the Land Development Agency, which will consider its suitability as a site for housing.

The Department will retain “a portion” of the site “for any future prison development needs”, but added that the size of the prison envisaged in 2005 was now regarded as “counterproductive”.

Ms Malone said: “Since 2011, we have seen a more evidence-informed approach to prisons policy in Ireland, and the broad recognition by Government that prison building does not solve overcrowding. We particularly welcome the Department’s statement that smaller prisons are found to be much more successful in rehabilitating prisoners.

“At the same time, IPRT’s research shows that only five of Ireland’s 10 closed prisons are within the best practice maximum of 300 spaces, and Mountjoy and Midlands prisons are significantly larger with 845 and 755 spaces respectively. Large prisons are a costly, socially harmful and largely ineffective response to crime.

“IPRT has called on the Department of Justice and Equality to ensure that any future prison renewal programme does not expand the overall prison population and is guided by a commitment to prison sizes of less than 300, and ideally a maximum of 250 spaces. Accommodating prisoners in smaller, local prisons near families and communities is proven to better support rehabilitation and therefore promote public safety.”