Sales reports show clear preference for Lyons Tea over Barry’s among prison population

Barry's Tea was more popular in Munster,  outselling Lyons by almost three to one in Cork Prison and beating the rival brand by a comfortable margin in Limerick. Picture: Dan Linehan

Inmates prefer Lyons Tea to Barry’s and their favourite biscuits to enjoy with a cuppa are Toffypops, sales reports from tucks shops in the country’s 12 prisons have revealed.

A new stock management and point-of-sale system was installed in every prison last year at a cost of €170,565, allowing prisoners’ spending habits to be analysed for the first time.

Data from the system shows inmates spend an average of €675,997 every month in prison tuck shops on products including soft drinks, chocolate, toiletries and even games consoles.

An average of €271,318 is spent on cigarettes and tobacco every month, accounting for more than 40% of sales across the estate, and as much as 53% in Cloverhill, which mainly caters for prisoners on remand.

Inmates also spend an average of €28,211 a month on vaping products. These were particularly popular in the Dóchas Centre for female offenders, where €1 in every €4 was spent on e-cigarette kits and liquids.

Some €32,409 is spent each month on toiletry products, including baby powder, lip balm, Vaseline, Brylcreem and shower gel. One inmate at Wheatfield Prison bought factor-20 sunscreen in October.

The country’s busiest tuck shop is in the Midlands Prison, where sales of €500,814 were recorded during a period of less than four months between the beginning of last August and November 25.

This was followed by Mountjoy (€459,799), Wheatfield (€361,226) and Cloverhill (€273,384). Total sales during the 117-day period amounted to nearly €2.6m, with prisoners spending an average of €22,129 every day.

Jaffa Cakes were popular among prisoners, with 7,022 packs sold in a four-month period last year.

Sales reports show a clear preference for Lyons Tea over Barry’s among the prison population, with inmates purchasing 245,281 bags of the Dublin-based Lyons brand compared to 159,920 bags of Cork-based Barry’s.

The latter was more popular in Munster, however, outselling Lyons by almost three to one in Cork Prison and beating the rival brand by a comfortable margin in Limerick. Barry’s was also the most popular choice in Castlerea and the Midlands Prison.

Toffypops were the most popular biscuits, with 17,028 packs sold during the sample period. They were closely followed by Boland’s Chocolate Bites (15,342 packs) and Burton's Wagon Wheels (9,667).

Other popular cookies included Jaffa Cakes (7,022) and Custard Creams (6,916). The humble digestive biscuit was bought 3,481 times, along with 3,024 packets of Rich Tea.

An average of €54,815 is spent on chocolate every month in prison tuck shops, along with €13,781 on jellies and other sweets, and €42,570 on soft drinks. Inmates also spent €2,600 on games consoles through tuck shops over the four-month period, along with €618.38 on games.

Some €10,516 a month is spent on newspapers and magazines. However, only Arbour Hill and Wheatfield recorded details of the individual titles purchased by inmates.

They showed the Irish Sun was by far the most popular daily newspaper among prisoners. It sold 883 copies at Wheatfield during the sample period, while its nearest rival, the Irish Daily Star, was bought 106 times.

A total of 243 copies of the Sun were bought at Arbour Hill, compared to 78 copies of the Irish Times, 66 copies of the Irish Independent, and 45 copies of the Star. Regional titles the Leinster Express and The Kerryman were bought 14 times.

The Sunday World was the most popular Sunday newspaper, selling 58 copies in Arbour Hill and 306 in Wheatfield. This was followed by the Sunday Times in Arbour Hill (40) and the Sun on Sunday (48) in Wheatfield.

Every prisoner receives an allowance of between €6.30 and €15.40 per week, and can earn more by performing work in areas such as cleaning and laundry. However, they can also receive money into their accounts from family and friends.

In 2021, inmates were paid a total of €3.1m in allowances and banked an additional €4.9m in gifts and transfers from outside the prison system.

About 1,500 retail items are available to inmates through the tuck shops. The Irish Prison Service has said profits generated from the outlets are used to support inmates through the Prisoner Assist Programme Fund, hardship payments, and other services.