20% of prisoners are non-nationals - director

Around 20% of the people sent to Irish prisons last year were non-nationals, it was revealed today.

Prison Service Director General Sean Aylward said people from 90 countries had passed through the nation’s jails in 2003, while the number of women prisoners had trebled in the last 10 years.

Mr Aylward said the number of non-nationals sent to prison had shot up by 66% in the last three years, with the country’s prison populations reflecting the changing demographics of Irish society.

“The number of non-nationals going through the system is quite significant,” he said.

“Over 2,600 last year, 1,800 of whom were immigrant cases, so that’s a new phenomenon for us.

“Over 90 nationalities passed through the portals of Irish prisons in 2003, that has added to the pressure on our spaces.

“We’ve also had something of a surge in recent years in the number of women committed to prison – another special population.

“Those two factors alone would justify some further investment in prison accommodation,” he added.

Mr Aylward said a massive surge in the number of inmates serving life sentences in Irish prisons was also among the reasons why more and more prison places were being taken up for longer periods.

A total of 70 people were in jail for life in 1994, while that figure has risen to over 160 at present.

“People are getting longer sentences and there has been a fairly significant increase in the number of lifers in custody in Ireland,” he said.

“There are 162 lifers in our care at the moment and as the minister pointed out they will be facing the prospect of serving with us for many years.”

Mr Aylward said there was nothing to suggest non-nationals were more predisposed to crime than Irish people.

“They are probably as law-abiding a group in this country as any other group, but they are present in much greater numbers than they were a few years ago,” he said.

“We had a very homogenised society 20 or 30 years ago and that’s changed.

“Also there is a special element within the non-national group and these are people who are undocumented, whose residency status is under scrutiny and there are some people who have been before the courts in relation to deportation.”

Mr Aylward said more women were becoming involved in more serious crime with 120 currently in custody – three times as many as in the 1990s.

“I think this reflects increased urbanisation, it reflects some of the collateral damage of the drug culture because a lot of the women would tend to be people who are robbing to feed the habit,” he said.

“It also reflects the involvement of women in more serious crimes, we have a number of women lifers now.”

The director general also revealed there was a huge surge in the number of young people in custody.

A total of 21 16-year-olds and 64 17-year-olds are currently housed in special units in prisons across the country.

Mr Aylward rejected suggestions that more inmates were out of prison on temporary release. He said the number had actually fallen in recent years, with less than one in 10 now out of jail.

He said only inmates who are low risk and non-violent were granted temporary release.

“I can absolutely assure people that there is the most careful scrutiny taken of any temporary release application,” he said.