13th December 2024
MEDIA RELEASE
The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) is today calling for the next Programme for Government to focus on a humane and solutions-focused approach to addressing and alleviating the severe pressures on our criminal justice system evident in the Irish Prison Service (IPS) Annual Report 2023 published today (13 December 2024) by the Irish Prison Service.
The IPS Annual Report 2023 shows a significant increase of people committed to prison in Ireland in 2023 including an increase in people committed on short sentences of less than 12 months, more women imprisoned and nearly a tripling of the number of people being imprisoned for non-payment of fines.
IPRT Executive Director, Saoirse Brady, responded saying:
“The Irish Penal Reform Trust welcomes the publication today of the Irish Prison Service Annual Report for the year 2023 and particularly recognises the efforts made to include detailed data on prison education and access to mental health services which helps to provide greater transparency. It is great to see progress in the continued rollout of in-cell telephones, which enables people in prison custody to maintain essential communication with their families, children and support networks as it is a vital tool for rehabilitation and community reintegration.
However, as we speak, negotiations to form the next government are underway. The incoming government faces an immense task to tackle both chronic and acute problems in prisons and in the criminal justice system more widely to stem the flow of people on short sentences into our prison system and help more people move on from offending. The IPS in its 2023 annual report rightly highlights the ever-increasing pressures it faces with an 11 per cent increase in the daily number of people in custody from the year before.
Notably, since the end of 2023 we’ve continued to break new prison overcrowding records - with safe capacity levels breached daily. Any new government needs to shift its thinking to deliver what is needed immediately rather than continuing with the endless refrain of building more prison spaces as if that will be a silver bullet. These spaces are years in the making. Yet officials right across the criminal justice sector have already identified tangible short-term solutions in the Prison Overcrowding Response Group’s final report which sets out practical measures that could quickly take the pressure off and provide the IPS with some much-needed breathing space.
The public has also spoken and appears to be much less punitive than our politicians might think. In public attitudes polling commissioned by IPRT in October 2024, four out of five people stated that it is important for them that the next government prioritises alternatives to imprisonment in response to non-violent offending (81 per cent). Two thirds of people did not think that prison expansion was the solution to address overcrowding, and when asked how they would spend a budget of €10 million to tackle crime, additional prison places ranked fifth out of a list of seven options.
We urge the incoming government to engage with those proposals and commit the necessary resources to reduce the number of people in prison overall. Today, the rights and needs of many people in prison remain unmet. This includes hundreds of people sleeping on floors, thousands of people sharing cells, limited access to recreational space and significant waiting lists to access nearly all vital services.
The cost of an annual prison space rose to almost €90,000 in 2023. Prison is expensive not only in terms of the cost to the taxpayer but also in terms of the human cost. IPRT is concerned at the continued trend of short sentences with a 10 per cent year-on-year increase in 2023 of sentences between three and six months. Looking at the pressure on services right across the prison estate, clearly people entering prison for a matter of days, weeks or months will never reach the top of any waiting list to get the necessary to address any underlying issues they might have.”
Saoirse Brady continued in her response:
“IPRT is particularly alarmed by the number of people experiencing homelessness immediately before their imprisonment. On 31 December 2023, almost 800 people (16.4 per cent) reported being of no fixed abode upon committal to prison. This particularly impacts women with 28.6 per cent of the female prison population reporting that they were homeless before committal.
Since the commencement of the Fines (Payment and Recovery) Act 2014, we had seen a steady decline in the number of people imprisoned for non-payment of fines. However, IPRT is concerned that in the midst of a cost-of-living and homelessness crisis, there is a reversal of that trend with a significant increase in the number of people ending up in prison because of not paying a fine rising from 205 in 2022 to 552 in 2024.
IPRT calls on any and all parties and individuals who will shortly enter Programme for Government negotiations to have the political courage to invest in proven solutions and deal with people who offend in a more effective, humane, and less costly manner which ultimately leads to more resilient individuals, safer communities and fewer people in the criminal justice system.”
ENDS
For all media enquiries, or to arrange an interview with Saoirse Brady, IPRT Executive Director, please contact Michelle Byrne, IPRT Communications Officer on:
M: +353 86 043 3060 E: communications@iprt.ie W: www.iprt.ie
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) | www.iprt.ie
IPRT is Ireland's leading non-governmental organisation campaigning for the rights of everyone in prison and the progressive reform of Irish penal policy, with prison as a last resort.
Prison figures:
As of Friday 13 December 2024, there were 5,067 people in prison custody.
Key Figures: Irish Prison Service Annual Report 2023:
Increased number of committals - 7,938 committals to prison in 2023, a 12.7 per cent (+895) increase on the number of committals in 2022 (7,043). 60 per cent are committed under sentence, 38 per cent are committed on remand and 2 per cent for other reasons.
Increased overall daily average number of prisoners in custody in 2023 was 4,582 compared to 4,122 in 2022, an increase of 11.1 per cent (+460). The daily average number of persons in custody in 2023 was 15.4 per cent (+611) higher than in 2019 (pre-Covid). The daily average number of female offenders in custody increased by 23.7 per cent, from 173 in 2022 to 214 in 2023.
Increased use of short sentences - 78 per cent of Sentence committals were for 12 months or less. Up from it was 74 per cent of sentence committals in 2022. The number of prisoners sentenced to 3 to <6 months in 2023 increased by 10.4 per cent.
Increased use of long sentences - the number of people committed for greater than one year increased by 35.1 per cent (+483) compared to 2019 (pre-Covid).
Almost triple the number of committals for fines: The number of committals for the non-payment of court ordered fines has increased in 2023, from 205 to 552 (2.7 times more).
Homeless status: On 31 December 2023, 16.4 per cent (or 767) of all prisoners reported being of no fixed abode upon committal. 28.6 per cent (63 persons) of female prisoners reported being of ‘no fixed abode’, while 15.7% (704 persons) of male prisoners reported being of ‘no fixed abode’. These figures do not provide a complete picture of self-reported homelessness among persons in custody on 31 December 2023. Some new committals are reporting their address as a homeless service and in some cases the address is not stated so the numbers could be higher.
Increased cost of imprisonment: The average annual cost of an available, staffed prison space during the calendar year 2023 was €88,523, a 5.3 per cent increase on the 2022 cost of €84,067.
High number of people on pre-trial detention (remand): 3,035 persons were on remand in 2023. At the end of 2023, the proportion of remand trial prisoners in custody for one year or more was 9 per cent compared with 6 per cent at the start of 2020.
Education attainment: The majority of persons in custody (67.7 per cent) on 31 December 2023 were early school leavers.
Employment status: 93.6 per cent of women and 76.4 per cent of men were unemployed upon committal
Recognition of importance of the installation of in-cell telephony and video visiting to maintain crucial family and community ties.
Respect for rights in the penal system with prison as a last resort.