Jailings for unpaid fines up in recession

Ireland’s prison population rose by more than a quarter during the financial crisis years, in line with other economically hit countries in Europe.

The numbers committed to jail for non-payment of fines rocketed after 2007, according to the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT).

An increase in the numbers and kind of people being jailed is a feature of economic crisis, the Council of Europe’s annual penal statistics report says. The Council, a human rights body to which 47 European countries belong, is separate from the EU.