Most prisoners reoffend within 3 years of release

The majority of prisoners reoffend within three years of being released from jail and most of those are back in trouble with the law inside just six months.

A study combining Garda records with data from the prisons and probation services show offending is a hard habit to break, particularly for younger offenders but also right through middle-age.

The findings, compiled by the Central Statistics Office, was based on offenders who were released from custody in 2007 and then tracked up to 2010.