Sir, – I refer to a Letter to the Editor (April 18th) regarding prison expansion being a bad idea. The letter was signed by a multitude of academics and politicians who claim to have a deep knowledge of the Irish criminal justice system. However, nowhere in their letter did they refer to the demographic statistics we have in our country.
The last prison built in Ireland was Cloverhill in 1999 when our population was 3.7 million; in 2024 our population is 5.2 million.
Purely based on the laws of statistical analysis, is it not a fact that we need more prison spaces? Our prisons are overcrowded which certainly doesn’t help with rehabilitation of mostly a revolving door of offenders serving sentences.
Our courts are far too lenient with offenders, and those who are given prison sentences are habitual offenders or first-time serious offenders. Ask the victims of crime if they consider money pumped into rehabilitation outside prison makes them feel safer or should those convicted pay the ultimate price, ie prison.
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Our streets are not safe, our cities are not safe, our citizens are not safe, so lock up the serious offenders and give them rehabilitation while they serve the time for their crime. – Yours, etc,
FINBARR DOLAN,
Knocklyon,
Dublin 16.
