2nd October 2024
MEDIA ADVISORY
Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT), Ireland’s leading organisation campaigning for penal reform, has responded to the Budget 2025 announcements, which do not contain the detail necessary to know if they will address the critical needs of those who come in contact with the criminal justice system in a meaningful way.
Irish Penal Reform Trust Executive Director, Saoirse Brady, said:
“Against the backdrop of the highest-ever prison population in the history of the state recorded in late June this year, IPRT is concerned that continuing to pour money into a system that is creaking at the seams and creating new prison spaces will do absolutely nothing to address the root causes of criminality or prevent reoffending, particularly in the context of an overwhelming number of short prison sentences of 12 months or less and where already overstretched services cannot keep up with demand. Instead, we need to shift our focus and invest in measures that would reduce the number of people in our prison and address the underlying issues that so many people face before they interact with our criminal justice system. Government needs to refocus its efforts to deliver on its own policy commitments to reduce the prison population and support evidence-based alternatives to imprisonment.
While the announcement to invest in building more prison spaces may seem like the popular option when facing into a general election, the Government must be upfront in how long it will take to deliver these new prison spaces. Today (Wednesday 2 October) there are 4,979 people in prison with only beds for 4,519 people. Hundreds of people are currently sleeping on mattresses on the floor or sharing overcrowded cells so the announcement of €53 million towards creating an additional 155 prison spaces by the end of the year will do little to ease today’s overcrowding crisis.
We know from other countries’ experiences, that creating more prison spaces is akin to a self-fulfilling prophecy, the more spaces there are, the more likely they will be filled. We saw this here in Ireland when we opened Limerick Women’s Prison in 2023 which has quickly become the most overcrowded prison in the State on a fairly regular basis. We don’t need more of what hasn’t worked. Instead, we need to re-imagine our prison system, how we use punishment and how we use our resources to the best effect.
Prison is expensive. The significant budget allocated to that a relatively small number of prison places works out as approximately €342,000 per new prison place – and that doesn’t include the annual running costs of €84,000 per person imprisoned after those places are created. At today’s budget press conference, IPRT was pleased to note that Minister of State James Browne recognised the economic sense of funding diversion and alternatives for young people. He emphasised the importance of investing in early intervention and community measures in a positive way, rather than seeing young people end up in prison or detention as he welcomed the €3m allocation to youth diversion projects that will be fully nationwide by the end of 2024.”
Commenting on the Budget topline references to funding for prison staff, IPRT Executive Director, Saoirse Brady, went on to say:
“We welcome the announcement that the funding will go towards recruiting an additional 150 Prison Officers next year, with further funding towards additional staff hours, as a short-term measure to safely staff overcrowded prisons. We know that like so many sectors at the moment, recruitment and retention remain a consistent issue for the Irish Prison Service. Working in a prison is not an easy job at the best of times but with severe demands on prison staff due to overcrowding and increasing numbers of people experiencing mental health and/or addiction challenges without access to services, it’s currently even more difficult.
While we welcome Minister Helen McEntee’s initial comments today on staffing for prison staff referencing health, education and rehabilitation, in the absence of clear detail on where the 18% increase in funding to increase capacity will be allocated, IPRT is not sure how much of this will go towards increasing necessary mental health and addiction counselling staffing levels. We had called for €1.4 million to be allocated towards enhancing the prison psychology service, expanding the Prison In-Reach Court Liaison Service to divert people with mental health challenges from prison, and resource addiction counselling and other support services to facilitate the roll-out of a pilot dual diagnosis programme in prison.”
Comparing the announcement of an increase of €79m to increase prison capacity to the announcement of an increase of just €4 million to Probation to support alternatives to imprisonment announced by the Justice Department, Saoirse Brady said:
“IPRT welcomes additional funding for the Probation Service to expand crime diversion programmes, support step down facilities, restorative justice, and community-based sanctions given our pre-budget focus on prioritising alternatives to prison. Community Service and probation supervision provide much more cost-effective interventions that deliver more positive results for individuals, their families and wider society and result in less reoffending. The €4 million increase to Probation bringing its budget to €60m in 2025 is very welcome but represents a mere fraction of the funding allocated to the IPS. Again, without knowing the exact allocation breakdown, we hope that some of this will be invested in the introduction of a pilot Supported Bail Service for women, to improve compliance with bail conditions and better address some of the underlying causes of offending, given how effective it has been in the youth justice system. This will help to meet women where they’re at in the criminal justice system and help them deal with many of the challenges that they face in a positive and supportive environment outside of prison.
The specific reference to funding for restorative justice is a positive development given the forthcoming strategy from the Probation Service that we hope to see before the end of this year. Restorative justice can change lives – helping people understand the devastating impact their offending has on others – and ensuring that victims have an opportunity to find out why someone committed a crime against them and maybe understand the circumstances behind that”.
As we await further details of the breakdown of the Budget and in light of the seemingly overreliance on funding prison expansion over addressing the root causes of people’s offending behaviour or alternatives to imprisonment, IPRT reminds the Government of their previous policy commitment to use ‘prison as a last resort’ and calls on them to allocate funding to realise this as a matter of urgency.
ENDS
For all media enquiries, contact IPRT Communications Officer, Michelle Byrne, at communications@iprt.ie or 086 0433060.
IPRT Executive Director, Saoirse Brady, is available for further comment.
NOTES FOR EDITOR:
Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) is Ireland's leading non-governmental organisation campaigning for the rights of everyone in prison and the progressive reform of Irish penal policy.
Respect for rights in the penal system with prison as a last resort.