Sir, – The prison population has reached 5,000 for the first time in the history of the State.
The proposal to build more prisons is a lazy, unimaginative response.
Many people think our prisons are full of dangerous people and sentencing them to prison is protecting society. While some indeed are, 70 per cent of those sentenced to prison have an addiction, and they serve their sentence in a prison full of drugs and are released with an addiction; 70 per cent have a mental health problem which will only get worse while in prison; 70 per cent are sent to prison for less than 12 months for less serious offences which could, with some political will and imagination, be dealt with more efficiently, and certainly more cheaply, with non-custodial penalties.
Most come from a small number of very deprived neighbourhoods and will return there on release. Most have left school early and many are functionally illiterate. Many are homeless going into prison and will be released again into homelessness.
Gerry Thornley: IRFU decision on Sevens reflects the cold, hard business of sport
Cannes 2025: Tom Cruise’s death-defying wing-walking, and the festival’s ban on an actor accused of assault
Out of the house and into a summer job: What are your teenagers’ rights
Irish history takes off on TikTok: Meet the people teaching the world about Ireland in 60-second bites
Our prisons are the only public service available to the poor and vulnerable which does not have a waiting list. – Yours, etc,
Fr PETER McVERRY,
Ballymun,
Dublin 9.
