Prisoners sleeping on floors in packed jails, we need to find out why

The prison population will have increased by 800 in the year to the end of summer, if current rates continue. That’s enough to fill a prison, says Michael Clifford.

Last October, Justice Minister, Charlie Flanagan, told a human rights conference that “imprisonment should be the sanction of last resort”.

He was echoing general policy on imprisonment over the last decade in this country.