The Irish prison population rose by nearly 13 per cent last year, putting a strain on an already overstretched capacity, the Irish Prison Service has stated.
Its annual report reveals there were 7,938 committals to prison in 2023, a 12.7 per cent increase compared with 7,043 in 2020.
The number of people committed to prison at 6,495 was an 11.9 per cent increase on the 5,801 committed in 2022. The difference between the two figures is as a result of the number of repeat offenders.
Some 79.3 per cent of those committed were Irish nationals, with 10.8 per cent being European Union nationals and 3.4 per cent African nationals.
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The number of committals for the non-payment of court-ordered fines almost tripled last year from 205 to 552 during the previous year.
In the budget, the Government committed €525 million to tackling overcrowding in prisons. Overcrowding has been repeatedly criticised by the Irish Penal Reform Trust, which has noted that some jails operate at more than 100 per cent of capacity all the time.
Reacting to the report, the trust’s executive director Saoirse Brady said the incoming government faces an “immense task to tackle both chronic and acute problems in prison”.
“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.”
The trust noted that there was a 10 per cent year-on-year increase last year of sentences between three and six months. There is also a rise in the number of homeless people in prison.
As of the end of last year almost 800 people – or 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.
Irish Prison Service director general Caron McCaffrey described 2023 as a year of “significant achievement for the Irish Prison Service, as we continue to uphold our mission to provide a safe, secure and rehabilitative environment for all those in our care”.
“Our focus on improving the welfare of prisoners, coupled with our commitment to enhancing the professional development of our staff, underpins our core values of safety, dignity and rehabilitation.”
In 2023, Limerick Prison B Division was officially opened, providing much needed additional capacity. The opening new dedicated female prison at Limerick Prison was described as a “key development” aimed at addressing the needs of female offenders.
