New laws diverting fine defaulters from jail have driven a 40% drop in the number of committals to prison.

Fr Peter McVerry has said the country is returning to famine times by evicting families and that the Government is not willing to “take on” vested interests to solve the housing crisis.

Penal reformers have expressed concern over reported degrading ‘initiation’ rites for young adults in prisons, involving urination and defecation.

State authorities estimate there will be more than 100 assaults by prisoners on staff this year, the Oireachtas justice committee heard yesterday.

The number of people committed to Irish jails continues to rise, with women making up 20% of the prison population. There were 17,206 committals to prison in 2015, an increase of 6.5% on the 2014 total of 16,155.

With 62% of our former prisoners re-offending within three years of release it’s obvious that

Almost one third of prisoners who are locked up 23 hours a day are aged 18 to 24, campaigners have revealed.

Almost one-third of prisoners who are locked up 23 hours a day are aged 18-24, campaigners have revealed.

This letter is an urgent appeal from 14 organisations who work with children to call on An Taoiseach to show leadership on the issue of child homelessness.

Prison authorities have “legal obligations” to protect the health of prisoners after a “frail” 61-year-old inmate died following an assault in a shared cell.

The doubling-up of cells in the new multi-million euro Cork prison will contravene international and European rules, according to a social justice group.

A “rigid, inflexible culture” and the persistent behaviour of a “small cohort” of prison officers has forced the authorities to scrap St Patrick’s Institution, the head of the Irish Prison Service has said.

Social welfare and child benefit rates must be maintained before the deepening divisions in society are embedded, it was claimed.

Calls have been made to remove 17-year-old children from St Patrick’s Institution following the release of figures revealing the scale of violence there.

A new report on the Irish prison system has branded the policies of successive governments on imprisonment as “bankrupt”.

Prison is a place of punishment, but it will serve no useful purpose for society until it also functions as a place of effective rehabilitation.

The Government is today being urged to radically change its approach to imprisonment in order to tackle overcrowding and reduce the prison population.

DESPITE a fivefold rise in the number of people being jailed for the non-payment of court fines, laws passed 16 months ago to address the issue will not be operational for at least a year.

A new website is being launched today aimed at encouraging young people to debate the critical social issues facing the country.

ON Thursday representatives of states from around the world will gather to sign an agreement aimed at strengthening the protection of economic, social and cultural rights for individuals.

Ireland's housing boom not only contributed to the financial crisis currently facing the country, but also widened inequalities in housing and in wealth, according to the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice.

PRISONER rights advocates are opposing the planned doubling of detention places for women after research has shown large numbers of females are serving time for non-serious offences, including road traffic incidents and non-payment of debts or fines.

THE Catholic Church has described as disturbing parts of the Government’s plan to build a super-prison at Thornton Hall.

FAMILIES using the planned bus service to the new “super prison” in north Dublin for visits will be pressurised to carry drugs and targeted by other families to “settle scores” inside prison, it was claimed yesterday.

Alternatives to prison should be considered for women who commit minor offences, Senator Ivana Bacik claimed today.

THE blueprint for the proposed super-prison at Thornton Hall in north county Dublin is critically flawed and does nothing to address the growing problem of violence behind bars, the director of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice said yesterday.

BUILDING private and public hospitals side-by-side will lead to further health service inequality and undermine fundamental values, social justice groups warned today.

Two Christian groups have expressed opposition to private health facilities being built on the grounds of public hospitals.

TÁNAISTE Michael McDowell’s controversial proposals on immigration this weekend disguise the fact that he already presides over an established detention policy, a leading refugee welfare organisation has said.

Legislation governing the detention of refugees in Ireland should be revamped to ensure people are not deprived of their right to liberty, it was claimed today.

The Jesuit Order has called on the Government to review immigration policy before reviewing the Constitution.