Jailings for unpaid fines up in recession

Ireland’s prison population rose by more than a quarter during the financial crisis years, in line with other economically hit countries in Europe.

The numbers committed to jail for non-payment of fines rocketed after 2007, according to the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT).

An increase in the numbers and kind of people being jailed is a feature of economic crisis, the Council of Europe’s annual penal statistics report says. The Council, a human rights body to which 47 European countries belong, is separate from the EU.

“Undoubtedly, the countries that were the most affected by the negative consequences of the European financial crisis have not succeeded in reducing or at least stabilising their prison population rates”, the report said of Ireland, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Iceland, Slovakia, and Belgium among others.

Ireland had 3,135 people behind bars in 2006, just before the crisis hit, but by 2013 this had risen to 4,352. It has since fallen to 4,065, down 6% between 2012 and 2013. The number of women being jailed has risen notably.

Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Russia, and Georgia cut their prison populations by more than 15% during these years.

While the official figures show overcrowding is not an issue in the Irish prison system, the IPRT said that while this is true overall, there is crowding in some prisons, particularly Cork, and in the women’s prisons.

Overcrowding was acute in 21 out of 50 European prison administrators but a number of countries that reduced prison populations in 2014 still suffered serious overcrowding.

The Irish ratio of 1.5 inmates per prison officer was far lower than the median of 2.8. The figures of Northern Ireland and Sweden were slightly less at 1.4, while for England and Wales they were double, at 3.2. This finding is of interest as the Prison Officers Association is threatening action over staffing levels next week.

Each prisoner costs the State €179 a day, high compared to the average of é97 and just €3.20 a day in Greece and €2 in Russia, but low compared to Sweden’s daily spend of €317.

Spending per inmate in European prisons fell during the economic crisis. The Council of Europe warned this has likely reduced the quality of life of prisoners.

In September 2013, there were 1.68m people in Europe’s jails, a quarter waiting a final term, while a third of those sentenced had terms of less than three years.

Dangerous offenders accounted for just 2.1% of the total. The most common offence was for drugs followed by non-payment of fines and administrative offences, theft, robbery, and murder.