Prison overcrowding crisis has deepened further this year
5th September 2025
In an article on their website, RTE journalist Eleanor Burnhill writes about the prison overcrowding crisis following the launch of the Irish Prison Service 2024 Annual Report. "The Irish Penal Reform Trust said it was deeply concerned at the sharp rise in committals, ongoing overcrowding and the spiralling cost of keeping someone in prison.
"From 2023 to 2024 the cost of keeping somebody in prison for a year has risen by 11% so it nearly costs 100,000 euro to keep a person in prison for a year," its Executive Director Saoirse Brady said.
She said the cost of overseeing someone on probation would be much less.
Related items:
- Report launch: Paying the Price – The Cost and Impact of Imprisonment on Families in Ireland
- Rehabilitated offenders should be able to move on with their lives - that includes jobs
- Lack of clarity over budget funding for addiction and mental health supports in prisons
- IPRT presented to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration on Pre-legislative scrutiny of the General Scheme: Criminal Law and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025
- Round-up: IPRT Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2025
