IPRT advocates for a national penal policy that is just and humane, promotes effective non-custodial responses to crime and uses prison as a last resort.
Our vision is for Irish penal policy that focuses on non-custodial responses to crime and has rehabilitation and social reintegration at its core. We believe that the emphasis of our penal system needs to move towards diverting young offenders and at risk groups away from offending behaviour at the entry points to the penal system.
We work towards securing long-term commitment to a coherent, evidence-informed, and effective penal policy, underpinned by international best practice. Effectiveness in this context is taken to mean the approaches to offending behaviour which reduce the risk of re-offending and which are seen to have the greatest social and economic benefits while minimising potential social and economic harm.
Key issues for IPRT in relation to the development of Irish penal policy over recent years have included highlighting the rapid expansion of our prison population from 2007 to 2011 (and again in 2018 and 2019) and promoting alternatives to custody through research, advocacy and policy work.
We also engage in public and political debate around crime and punishment to build more informed debate and counteract the demonization of offenders. Some of our media appearances are detailed here.
28th June 2010
The 2010 Open Forum event of the Irish Penal Reform Trust took place on Monday 28th June, 2010 at the Morrison Hotel, Ormond Quay, Dublin 1.
27th May 2010
Lord Woolf explains why it is folly to continue jailing so many people.
21st May 2010
Former Mountjoy Visiting Committee member, Paul Mckay, appeared yesterday before the Justice Committee to express his concern at the conditions in the prison.
19th May 2010
Prison building versus reducing prisoner numbers - can the coalition negotiate a compromise on penal policy?
14th May 2010
Professor Ian O'Donnell, writing in the Irish Times, presses home the need for a rethink of penal expansionism.
6th May 2010
Prison-building exercises cannot deliver safer societies.
14th April 2010
The current White Paper on crime: description of the process and IPRT submissions.
15th January 2010
A new report from a Commons select committee has identified that the current prison building programme is unsustainable, and the cash would be better spent on rehabilitation and prevention so as to cut crime.
14th January 2010
An article by Alan Travis in the Guardian outlines how the Commons select committee report on justice describes how money would be better spent on rehabilitation and prevention to cut crime as opposed to expanding the prison building programme.
22nd September 2009
A Position Paper setting out the main issues relating to planning for the future of the prison system including the size of the prison population.
Respect for rights in the penal system with prison as a last resort.