Prison committals rise by 11.5%

A shortage of prison spaces and an “ever-increasing” number of committals was the most pressing issue that faced the Irish Prison Service last year, according to its annual report.

The number of committals in 2010 increased by 11.4 per cent to 17,179 which the chairman of the Prisons Authority Interim Board Brian McCarthy said put "considerable pressure" on the service to provide safe and humane conditions for prisoners.

In all, a total of 13,758 people were sent to prison last year, an increase of 11.5 per cent on 2009. Some 87.6 per cent of those committed were male.

The daily average number of prisoners in custody last year was 4,290, an increase of 10.5 per cent, but capacity in Ireland's prisons stood at 4,203.

The report said the number of people sentenced to less than three months in prison increased by 27.9 per cent last year to 7,356 which the Irish Prison Service said could be attributed to a rise in the number of people committed for not paying court ordered fines.

There were 6,683 committals for non-payment of fines compared to 4,806 in 2009. Former minister for justice Dermot Ahern last year announced legislation aimed at reducing the number of people imprisoned for the offence.

The average cost of a prison space last year decreased by €6,709, or 8.7 per cent, to €70,513 as a result of reduced expenditure and an increase in bed capacity.

Commenting on the report, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said it was imperative that "we take reasonable and practical steps to alleviate the pressures on capacity within our prison system".

"Prison overcrowding cannot be solved solely by building more prisons and that further steps are required to reduce the prison population, although this obviously cannot be achieved overnight," he said.