Prisons

Penal reform campaigners have urged the new Taoiseach to tackle "the root causes of offending" instead of focusing on "harsher penalties and prison expansion". In a letter to Simon Harris, the head of the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) said it has concerns about current "political rhetoric... and t

More than €75 million is to be invested in the Irish Prison Service and An Garda Síochána as part of a €93 million capital funding package announced today. The additional funding brings the total capital allocation available for the justice sector in 2024-2026 to €930 mi

The Northern Ireland Prison Service has launched a new online visit booking system which has been hailed as the first of its kind in the UK. In-person and virtual visits to any prison in Northern Ireland can now be booked via the nidirect.gov.uk website.

Penal reform campaigners have called for urgent action after a watchdog found that mental healthcare needs are not being fully or satisfactorily met in any of the seven prisons it inspected. A damning thematic inspection report published today by the Office of the Inspector of Prisons describes a nu

Northern Ireland's justice minister, Naomi Long, has welcomed the findings of two review reports on Maghaberry and Magilligan Prisons. The two independent review reports are intended to provide assurance or highlight issues which need addressed in advance of a full inspection.

The overwhelming majority of Irish employers say they would consider hiring someone with a history of convictions, but significant barriers remain to making this a reality, new research by the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) suggests. The NGO today published a new report titled "The Secondary Punish

The remains of executed prisoners will be removed from the grounds of Mountjoy Prison over the next six to seven months. An excavation is planned to begin this month in an area thought to contain the remains of the 29 prisoners executed by the State between 1923 and 1954, and potentially the remains

Around three per cent of prisoners have been granted varying periods of temporary release for Christmas, the Irish Prison Service has announced. The temporary release of 129 prisoners marks a return to normality after two years in which the numbers were drastically reduced as a result of the pandemi

The High Court has refused to grant injunctive relief restraining the dismissal of a recruit prison officer arising from a discovery of plastic bags which tested positive for cocaine in his training accommodation. Delivering judgment for the High Court, Mr Justice Rory Mulcahy determined: “Com

An Irish criminologist's book on "pain, resistance and purpose" behind bars has won a major prize in the United States. Prison Life: Pain, Resistance and Purpose by Professor Ian O'Donnell of UCD Sutherland School of Law is the 2023 winner of the Outstanding Book Award, the top literature prize give

Ireland's prison population is higher now than it was when a landmark report called for it to be reduced by a third within a decade, penal rights campaigners have highlighted. The all-party Oireachtas group on penal reform yesterday marked the 10-year anniversary of the penal reform report published

Limerick's new women's prison with capacity for at least 50 prisoners has been officially opened. The new Limerick Female Prison will increase capacity across the prison estate and has been designed with a focus on rehabilitation, the Department of Justice said, offering a range of educational, voca

Ireland's chief prisons inspector has warned that the "degrading" conditions seen at Mountjoy Prison could soon "become a grave problem for the prison system as a whole" as a result of increasing numbers of prisoners. Writing in the foreword to his office's 2022 annual report, Mark Kelly said inspec

UK justice secretary Alex Chalk is to announce that foreign criminals in England and Wales, including drug dealers, thieves, and burglars, will bypass prosecution and instead be deported in an effort to address the prison overcrowding crisis.

Additional investment is required in prison and probation services to alleviate prison overcrowding and improve undignified conditions, the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) has said. In its pre-budget submission, the NGO calls for, among other things, the allocation of an additional €5 million t