An expert group has submitted its report on changing the State’s response to drug possession. The Cabinet is due to discuss proposals based on the report tomorrow. Security Correspondent Cormac O'Keefe has obtained a copy and examines its findings.

Last year saw a further rise in the number of community-service sanctions handed down by Irish courts — with a marked increase in those involving female offenders.

Prisoners being released from life sentences can be barred from returning to the community where they committed their crime.

A State committee examining Ireland’s laws on the possession of drugs for personal use is thought to be favouring a diversion scheme, the Irish Examiner understands.

The Probation Service and Rape Crisis Network Ireland have backed draft laws regarding the disclosure of information, electronic tagging and restricting foreign travels of convicted sex offenders.

The cost of electronically tagging prisoners has quadrupled in the past four years but still remains considerably cheaper than keeping convicted criminals in prison. 

Prison and probation bosses will go to tender soon for the construction of a “step-down” facility for female offenders.

Almost half of sex offenders currently in the prison system are undertaking psychological treatment, with the Irish Prison Service stressing that other offenders were accessing other forms of support.

Almost 22,000 offenders have been supported by a community organisation over the last five years, with 13,000 placed in employment, education, or training.

A group that works with marginalised young men has said that the Portuguese model of not criminalising people for possessing drugs would have a “positive impact”, especially for those trying to overcome their addiction.

The number of people being sent to jail has increased by almost 3% Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said.

The Irish Prison Service will release its annual report today, two days after a prisoner lost his life in a row in Cork Jail.

Many of the 400-odd criminals given unstructured temporary release from prison could be brought into a supervised release programme, according to an official report.

A member of a ‘honey trap’ gang who robbed two men after luring them to a remote location, has narrowly escaped a lengthy term in prison.

An overarching watchdog is being proposed to oversee the entire justice apparatus, including the job of policing the Garda Ombudsman.

The number of women being jailed continues to reach record highs — despite a significant drop in the total number of people being sent to prison.

Half of convicted burglars and gunmen who serve their sentences in the community reoffend within three years.

The number of offenders in Dóchas Women’s Prison continues to rise with 135 inmates packed into a jail with 105 beds.

The number of people sent to prison for failing to pay fines rose by 10% last year.

Nearly half of burglars and public order offenders who served their sentences in the community committed another offence within two years, the first study of its type in Ireland has shown.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter has welcomed the report by the Central Statistics Office on criminal re-offending in Ireland, saying it gives a "positive assessment of the effectiveness of non-custodial sanctions".

A groundbreaking mental health unit in the country’s most notorious jail has greatly improved care for inmates and boosted compliance with international human rights standards.

The Government is to build a new prison in Cork City rather than proceed with a planned super-jail in North Cork which would have catered for all prisoners in Munster.

A prisoner with serious mental health issues and who could not control his bodily functions was constantly locked up alone in a cell for his own safety because staff had no training in how to cope with him.

HUNDREDS of teenagers will learn about the impact of drugs on the wider community as part of an interactive drama project due to take place in Limerick.

TEAMS of people who have been sentenced to community service will clean graffiti from city centre buildings in the first project of its kind in the country.

THE union representing members of the Probation Service has said more staff would be needed to cater for the Government’s plan for greater use of community sanctions for petty criminals.

THE criminal justice system is spending “increasing and wasteful” sums of scare resources with poor results, a conference will hear today.

YOUNG offenders are to be put to work cleaning graffiti as part of a pilot project in Cork city.

A LOCAL authority is considering bringing in bylaws to provide community work programmes for people who “make life hell for ordinary decent citizens”.

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern should be told about the lack of support for crime victims, a judge said today.

An 11-year-old boy was arrested in Britain in connection with several offences after a crime spree, police said today.

JUSTICE MINISTER Dermot Ahern said he was “fully committed” to implementing the findings of a Government report which called for a major expansion of community sanctions instead of imprisonment.

A deaf Czech man who sexually assaulted a girl after pulling her down a laneway has been given a suspended sentence by Judge Katherine Delahunt at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

A youth, who took cocaine then burgled a woman’s home and attacked her boyfriend, escaped a criminal conviction today and was let off with a warning.

The Irish Prison Service today hit out at a study which accused jails of making no effort to ensure inmates remain in contact with their families.

PROBATION officers supervised 164 sex offenders living among communities nationwide last year as well as 66 life sentence prisoners on temporary release.

The Government launched its National Women’s Strategy 2007-2016 yesterday.

Former Ulster Defence Association (UDA) paramilitary Johnny “Mad Dog” Adair today walked free from court after he admitted assaulting his wife.

Lawyers for Maxine Carr tonight said they would “vigorously” fight any attempt to overturn a British High Court injunction banning media disclosures about her new life.

The body of Harold Shipman has been released to his family after an inquest into his death was opened and adjourned.

A SYSTEM of hostels, halfway houses and support projects for offenders will be set up as an alternative to custody, according to Justice Minister Michael McDowell.