Sir, – I note from the annual report of the Prison Service that more than 8,000 people were jailed last year for non-payment of fines. A more stupid waste of taxpayers’ money would be difficult to imagine. It costs €1,250 per week to keep a person in jail. He or she is normally held for a week or two and then out on licence due to overcrowding. As a deterrent, which the criminal justice system should be about – it’s a joke.
All of this when the fines Bill has been on the statute book for three years. Under that Bill, going to jail instead of paying a fine would not be an option: an attachment could be put to wages or social welfare benefits. What a deterrent that would be. A win-win for the taxpayers. – Yours, etc,
JAMES MORAN,
Knockanure,
Bunclody,
Co Wexford.