A DOUBLING of prison places for women in the new Thornton Hall prison is not justified by figures which show no evidence of an upward trend in crime by women, according to new research.
The Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice says official statistics show that the majority of convictions against women are for less serious crimes, and only very small numbers involve serious incidents.
In an article in the current issue of the journal Working Notes, the director of the centre Fr Tony O'Riordan SJ and co-author Daragh McGreal say the new prison in north Dublin will double the number of prison places for women from 100 to 200.
"The Government has decided not just to move the main women's prison, the Dóchas Centre, to the new prison complex at Thornton Hall, but to double the number of places in the centre," Fr O'Riordan said.
"And it plans also to build a new prison to accommodate 40 women in Kilworth, Co Cork. Yet, examination of official figures on convictions and imprisonment do not support such an increase in the number of places."
Official figures for 2004 show that 27 per cent of convictions were for theft and related offences, and 25 per cent were for road traffic incidents of a non-serious nature.
Just 11 per cent were for "dangerous or negligent acts" and 1 per cent were for "assaults causing harm".
There were no convictions for murder in that year and just four convictions for "dangerous driving leading to death".
Fr O'Riordan said there was a danger that once the extra prison places were provided, there would be a tendency within the criminal justice system to make sure they are filled.
"The existence of the places will lessen any impulse to try to expand non-custodial alternatives, and to truly make imprisonment the option of last resort," he said.
This policy move would be extremely expensive, given that the average annual cost of detaining a person in prison in Ireland now comes to around €100,000 annually, the article notes.
In common with many prisons, the Dóchas Centre has been beset with overcrowding problems.
However, Fr O'Riordan said this was due to the prison being used "inappropriately", with large numbers detained on remand under immigration legislation, as well as for relatively minor crimes.
The new prison at Thornton Hall is likely to open in 2012, at least two years later than first envisaged, following delays in contract negotiations with the preferred tenderer.