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‘CLOGGED UP’
Shock stats reveal half of Irish prisoners serving sentences of less than six months in jail as reform calls made
- Published: 17:09, 18 Aug 2023
- Updated: 17:09, 18 Aug 2023
PRISON sentencing is in dire need of reform, it’s claimed.
With almost half of prisoners serving sentences of less than six months, Labour TD Aodhan O Riordain said it’s time for a root and branch review in Ireland.
Commenting on figures released to him via parliamentary questions, he said: “Almost half of those sent to prison are sent for less than six months, meaning there’s little to no scope for integrating into the prison community and engaging in restorative justice projects.
“It’s particularly stark to see that the number of people being sent to prison for less than three months is up 43 per cent on pre-Covid figures, and up 116% since 2017.
“We need to have an honest conversation about justice here in Ireland. Just who is it serving to send people to prison, only for them to boomerang out again in less than six months?
“The clear view expressed in the many expert reports produced over the year is that prison should be a sanction of last resort; and that greater reliance should be placed on community-based sanctions to achieve more effective rehabilitation and reduce reoffending rates.
“Prison Governors say that four month sentences clog up the system and make little difference. We need to listen to the experts on this.
“Earlier this year, when Simon Harris was acting up as the Justice Minister, he suggested that the solution to the massive overcrowding in prisons was to build more of them.
“It’s bankrupt thinking from the Minister to suggest that the solution to prison overcrowding is more prisons. We have too many people in prison who shouldn’t be there.”
More than 4,000 people are being held in Irish jails.
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