Criminals see prison as mere inconvenience

ALMOST half of all prisoners go back to jail within four years of being released and 75% end up re-offending at some stage. This is proof that the Irish prison system is now operating on a revolving door basis.

The criminal justice system is failing with a quarter of released prisoners back serving a new sentence within a year and, incredibly, almost half of all prisoners destined to return — obviously unreformed and probably unrepentant — within four years of their release. These offenders have made crime a career choice and regard prison as a temporary inconvenience to their illegal activities.

This demands comprehensive action from the Government, yet Justice Minister Brian Lenihan has almost no detailed information about the scale of the problem.