Most jail terms last year were for minor offences

MORE than half of the people who went to prison last year were locked up for road traffic offences and non-payment of court ordered fines, figures from the Irish Prison Service have revealed.

Despite critical prisoner levels and a massively overburdened system, there were almost 8,500 committals for these offences last year, figures which the Irish Penal Reform Trust has branded “shocking”.

The annual report of the Irish Prison Service (IPS),published yesterday, shows a staggering 90% increase in the number of committals for non-payment of fines last year compared with 2008 – a figure which had already increased by almost 90% from 2007.