15% of convicts free on short release

THE overcrowding crisis in Irish prisons means more than 730 prisoners — 15% of the prison population — are out on temporary release on a daily basis.

The number of prisoners on short-term release in 2010 rose by 200 compared to 2009.

Thousands of crimes are committed by people on temporary release, early release or bail every year. These range from assaults and drugs offences to murder and rape.

Shortly before his retirement in June, outspoken judge Michael Pattwell said victims of crime were having their rights vindicated by the courts — only to see those responsible for crimes walking down the street three weeks later.

According to the Prison Service’s annual report, there were 17,179 committals to prison in 2010, up 11.5% on 2009, and most prisons were operating above capacity.

The average number of prisoners in custody on a daily basis was 4,290, but average bed capacity was 4,203. The top five prisons for overcrowding were:

* Dochas woman’s prison: 38% above capacity.

* Limerick prison’s female section: 18% over capacity.

* Cork: 11% over capacity.

* Mountjoy: 9% above capacity.

* Cloverhill and Castlerea: Both 8% above capacity.

There were, on average, 193 prisoners on temporary release from Mountjoy Prison on any given day of 2010, and 124 from Cork.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter said it was clear the greatest challenge facing the Irish prison service continues to be overcrowding, the pressures this creates in the system and the consequent high number of prisoners on temporary release.

However, he said overcrowding cannot be resolved solely by building more prisons and that further steps are required to reduce the prison population.

These include giving courts the power to impose a wider range of non-custodial sanctions, and an incentivised scheme of early temporary release with a requirement to do community service under supervision.

Mr Shatter said a pilot scheme under the supervision of the Probation Service would provide for the early temporary release of appropriate prisoners who are not considered to pose a threat to the community.

A snapshot of the prison population last November saw 286 prisoners serving life sentences and another 285 serving sentences of 10 years or more.

This total included 368 offenders serving sentences for homicide — 273 for murder, 69 for manslaughter and 26 for dangerous driving causing death.

Irish nationals accounted for 89.3% of people in custody under sentence.

Just 138 were women, nine of whom (6.5%) were in prison for murder.

In 2010, there were 479 committals in respect of immigration issues, involving 459 detainees. This represents a fall of 31.4% on the 669 persons held in 2009.