Court ruling leads to reductions in 50 prisoners' sentences 

Justice Minister Helen McEntee 

A court ruling which forced a change in how sentences are calculated resulted in over 50 prisoners in jails having their sentences reduced.

A number of internal reviews have now identified errors and miscalculations in multiple prisons.

In five cases, it led to prisoners being released immediately. The Department of Justice has said it is finalising an external review to examine these issues.

However, Green Party TD Patrick Costello said that “no review can repair that damage to trust in the justice system”.

“As for the review itself, it needs to be swift, it needs to be independent of the Irish Prison Service and the Department of Justice and most importantly it needs to be released upon its publication,” he said.

A numbers of reviews of prisoners’ sentences found dozens of cases where the individual should have spent more or less time in prison than their sentence had dictated.

Issues around incorrect sentences first came to light after a prisoner was released 14 months early because of a miscalculation in his release date.

Just under 4,000 prisoners’ sentences were reviewed between February 2021 and July 2021, and errors were found in 48 cases

In response to a parliamentary question from Mr Costello, Justice Minister Helen McEntee said that when it became clear the sentence had been miscalculated, the prisoner was returned to custody and the Irish Prison Service was directed to report on the incident and review its practices.

“The purpose of the review was to provide assurance on the accuracy of sentence calculation for those in custody,” she said.

Just under 4,000 prisoners’ sentences were reviewed between February 2021 and July 2021, and errors were found in 48 cases. Of these, 23 resulted in sentences being increased and 25 in a decrease. In Wheatfield Prison, nine had their sentences increased while 12 had them reduced.

A more detailed review carried out in July 2021 identified a further 83 cases whereby sentences were altered.

In 77 of these cases, the sentence was increased. This included 30 in Castlerea, 14 in Wheatfield, 13 in Mountjoy and one in Cork.

Ms McEntee said that the calculation of prison sentences can be a “highly complex and technical process, especially when some prisoners have multiple warrants, with different sentence start dates and also taking account of credit for time served on remand”.

She said not all cases came as a result of errors, as some were as a result of a legal judgement which required a change in sentence calculation policy with regard to the application of “credit days”.

One prisoner took a case in the High Court with regard to the recalculation of his sentence. He wasn’t successful in the High Court but brought the matter to the Court of Appeal, where a ruling was made in his favour which necessitated this change in policy.

A further review was carried out in the wake of this ruling, and a further 54 prisoners had their sentence length reduced. Five were released immediately on foot of the ruling.

Ms McEntee has ordered an external review of the matter, and it’s understood the arrangements for that review have yet to be finalised.