Analysis: Debate on denying prisoners bail is over before it begins

In the aftermath of any serious crime involving particularly violent or repugnant criminals, confirmation they were on bail at the time always fires up public debate.

The brutal murder of Garda Tony Golden by dissident republican Adrian Crevan Mackin in Co Louth on Sunday has proven no exception.

The fact he had been charged with membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, but was granted bail pending trial, was a dominant theme of the media's coverage on Monday.

And yesterday, many news outlets stayed with this angle, focusing on the fact the Director of Public Prosecutions did not even oppose bail when it was applied at the Special Criminal Court in January.

Violent suspects

The granting of bail is a neat subject to fixate on because it appears an easy one to “fix”. Refuse more violent suspects bail and society can only become safer, the neat logic goes.

However, with delays of two years for criminal trials very common – and even three to five years not unusual – refusing suspects bail would be adjudged a breach of their human rights.

Only those deemed a genuine flight risk, or those regarded as being so dangerous and resourceful they would kill or threaten witnesses, can realistically be denied bail and jailed on remand for periods of several years.

Any changes to the bail laws – like those mooted at present for burglars – cannot be allowed to impinge on the independence of the judiciary.

It means no matter how well politicians package legislative provisions to “clamp down” on the number of violent suspects being granted bail, the final decision must always be left with judges.

Members of the judiciary are influenced by case law that has evolved down the years, rather than peaks and troughs in public outrage about crime.

Restrictions

Added to this, there are simply not enough prison spaces to facilitate any meaningful restrictions around the granting of bail.

Last year alone, the courts in the Republic dealt with a total of 454,659 new incoming criminal cases, with 312,861 cases resolved during the period.

Many of these, in fact the vast majority, were matters that simply would not, in the normal course of events, lead to a custodial sentence, meaning bail was not an issue.

However, those courts that deal with more serious criminal cases – the Circuit Criminal Court, Special Criminal Court and Central Criminal Court – handled 29,246 new cases last year, combined.

The total number of spare beds in the prison service at present would not come close to facilitating the refusal of bail to the one group of offenders Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has singled out for attention in the new legislation: burglars.

Spare beds

The bed capacity of the Irish prison service is currently running at 3,892 according to the Inspector of Prisons. And the Irish Prison Service said that yesterday the number of prisoners in custody was 3,687.

It means there are 205 spare beds in prisons at present, making any debate about bail redundant before it even begins.

With 27,000 burglaries last year, the current spare bed capacity would not even be enough to deny bail to the approximate 1,500 people who will be charged with those offences.

The only way any meaningful changes to the granting of bail could be facilitated is via building more prison spaces or granting early release to those prisoners already in custody.

In the current financial climate and with recorded crime and the prison population both falling, the expansion of the prison system is not high on the political agenda.

The early release of prisoners to make way for others being denied bail and remanded in custody would not make society any safer.

Rather than taking criminals off the streets it would simply oil the revolving door.