Hike in prison numbers ‘shows need for new jail’

ANOTHER significant increase in Ireland’s jail population highlights the need for a new prison, the head of the Irish Prison Service (IPS) said yesterday.

Brian Purcell was speaking after the release of the IPS’s 2008 annual report which showed a 13.6% rise from 2007 in the total number of committals to prisons last year and, further, a 25% increase in the amount of people committed under sentence.

“That is a significant increase,” Mr Purcell said.