If it is true that a society can be judged by how it treats its prisoners, the current level of severe overcrowding in our prisons suggests Ireland is faring poorly.
This week, the number of male prisoners in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, grew to 1,000, with – according to a report in this newspaper – more than 100 prisoners sleeping on the floor on Tuesday night, many on a mattress jammed up against the shared, and unpartitioned, toilet.
And it’s not just Mountjoy. Limerick women’s prison, which has a bed capacity of 56, was housing 91 women on Tuesday.
Even before this week’s record overcrowding, too many people have been wedged into small cells where they struggle to keep boredom at bay. Meals are eaten in the cell and there are too few opportunities for constructive activity.
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Imagine spending days, weeks and months in an area smaller than a car-parking space with a stranger whose bowel movements are, by necessity, a public event. Even for cellmates who manage to get along these are deplorable conditions.
It is good news that the Government does not plan to tackle the overcrowding problem by releasing high-risk offenders or renting cells in eastern Europe. That such approaches were even contemplated says something about the depth of the crisis.
Instead, its preferred “solution” is to increase prison capacity. The programme for government promises 1,500 extra places and a new prison at Thornton Hall. Construction projects are expensive, take time and offer little more than a temporary measure of relief. If new developments occur on existing sites, cramped facilities become even more restrictive and the limited amount of available outdoor space is further curtailed.
The balance of informed opinion – ranging from the Council of Europe to Oireachtas committees and human rights bodies – suggests the best approach to prison crowding is to ease the pressure of numbers rather than to provide additional accommodation. This is done by reducing the flow of people into prison and curtailing the duration of their stay.
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The prison population has fluctuated in recent years. A steady rise between 2005 and 2011 was followed by a fall that continued until 2017.
The reasons for this decline are not well understood and if some of the cost savings associated with dwindling prisoner numbers had been directed towards a programme of research to deepen understanding and guide policy, a short-term gain might have been converted into a sustainable programme of decarceration.
Speeding up release on parole for people who have been punished enough and no longer pose a threat would have a positive impact on prison congestion
Prisoner numbers increased slightly in 2018 and 2019 before falling back in the following two years, no doubt on account of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on crime rates, prosecutions and early release policy. Since then, the number of prisoners has surged: from about 3,800 at the beginning of 2022 (most in single cells) to 5,200 today (most sharing).
This sudden lurch upwards has put the system under intense strain. Overcrowding is incompatible with dignified treatment and proper sentence planning. It places enormous demands on staff, militates against adequate time out of cell and aggravates tensions on the landings. Crowded prisons are neither rehabilitative nor safe.
There is no simple relationship between the number of people living in a country and the number of prisoners. The latter depends on crime rates, victims’ propensity to report, investigative efficiency, prosecution practice, pleas entered, sentences imposed, early release mechanisms, political priorities and the legislative environment.
The level of crime is influenced by demographic factors such as age and gender, the socioeconomic context and prevailing opportunity structures rather than the sheer number of people.
The fact that the national population has grown steadily at the same time as the number of prisoners has fallen and risen shows this correlation is imperfect.
Most people who end up in prison are serving short terms, measured in weeks or months. These sentences are disruptive without being reformative and the interests of justice would be better served by an increased reliance on community service and restorative justice, options that remain chronically underutilised despite their potential to offer a proportionate and effective response to minor offences. Placing an enhanced emphasis on alternatives to custody would ease the pressure on our prisons.
At the other end of the scale, long-sentence prisoners are accumulating in the system. The time served prior to release for those sentenced to life imprisonment has risen from 12 or 13 years in the 1990s to about 30 years today. As virtually all are murderers this cannot be attributed to a change in the seriousness of offending.
Speeding up release on parole for people who have been punished enough and no longer pose a threat would have a positive impact on prison congestion. An additional raft of measures will be required to tackle the number of people remanded in custody, which is now at a record high. Any initiatives will need to be underpinned by a robust body of evidence to ensure public safety is not jeopardised. This will take time to assemble.
There is one forecast that can probably be made with confidence. This is that with the Government talking tough on crime, and the public finances in rude health, a programme of prison expansion will go ahead, despite the massive financial, and other, costs.
Ian O’Donnell is professor of criminology at University College Dublin. His latest book is Prison Life: Pain, Resistance and Purpose
