Prison reports - Crazy cost of keeping inmates

In his first annual report, the Inspector of Prisons and Places of Detention, Judge Michael Reilly, paints an alarming picture of dangerous overcrowding in our jails.

Our prisons are not supposed to be holiday camps, so most people may view the alarm of the report with indifference, but such indifference could be an expensive recipe for future disaster.

The cost of holding prisoners is staggering. The average annual cost of keeping a prisoner in an Irish jail in 2008 was over €92,000, which amounted to a 9% increase on the previous year.