Lenihan urged to reduce prisoner numbers

The Irish Penal Reform Trust is calling on the new Minister for Justice to heed a call for a reduction in the number of people being sent to prison.

The organisation is presenting a report to Brian Lenihan today arguing that successive Irish governments have failed to tackle the effects that rising prisoner numbers have on society.

A reduction in prisoners was one of the main recommendations of the 1985 Whitaker Committee.

However, the IPRT says the report has not been acted on and the Government is acting contrary to it by building new so-called "super-prisons" in Dublin and Cork.