Facts:

• 1. The current prison population is 4,401 (3rd May 2012)
• 2. The rate of imprisonment in Ireland is 95 per 100,000 of population (Oct 2011)
• 3. The prison population has increased by 400% since 1970.
• 4. The average cost of imprisonment per prisoner was €70,513 in 2010.
• 5. 60% of people serving sentences for 6 months or less are poor, and are often homeless people.
• 6. The majority of Irish prisoners have never sat a State exam and over half left school before the age of 15.
• 7. Four in ten children (under 16 years) on custodial remand have a learning disability.
• 8. Over the past 14 years, the numbers in custody have increased by almost 100%.
• 9. Mountjoy Prison (male) is holding 710 prisoners in a prison that should hold no more than 517* (8th March 2011)
• 10. In 2010, 5 people were imprisoned in relation to the non-payment of a civil debt.
• 11. There were 479 committals under immigration law in 2010.
• 12. 221 young people aged under 18 were committed to prison in 2010, including two girls.
• 13. There were 3,601 sentenced committals for road traffic offences in 2009, representing 33.1% of the total.
• 14. 20.8% of sentenced committals in 2009 were for offences against property without violence.
• 15. In 2006, the average cost per child in child detention schools was €330,263.
• 16. Dóchas Centre is operating at 50% above design capacity with 127 women in space designed for 85. (29 Nov 2011)
• 17. Prisoners in Ireland are 25 times more likely to come from (and return to) a seriously deprived area.
• 18. Just under 30% of prisoners in Ireland are still "slopping out", with no access to in-cell sanitation.
• 19. The total number in prison has increased by 419 over the past 12 months; this represents a rise of 10%. (Jan 2011)
• 20. 85% of fine defaulters are back in custody within four years.
• 21. 90.3% of sentenced committals in 2009 were for non-violent offences.
• 22. There was an increase of 90.7% in committals for non-payment of court ordered fines in 2009.
• 23. 82.4% of women committed under sentence to prison in 2009 were for non-violent offences.
• 24. 70% of sentenced committals in 2009 were for 6 months or less.
• 25. In 2008, of 520 prisoners who enrolled in school at Mountjoy Prison, 20% could not read or write and 30% could only sign their names.
• 26. 7,514 committals for non-payment of court-ordered fines in 2011.
• 27. There are 41 children imprisoned in St Patrick's Institution, which is in breach of human rights law. (5th March 2012)
• 28. There are 222 children and young people in custody in St. Patrick’s Institution. (5th March 2012.)
• 30. Since 1997 more than 1,930 new prison spaces have been added to the prison system.
• 31. There are 178 'protection' prisoners on 23-hr lock-up (21 Nov 2011); 63 of these are in Wheatfield Prison.
• 32. Over 70% of prisoners are unemployed on committal.
• 33. There are 1,003 prisoners 'slopping out' in Irish prisons. (17th Dec 2010.)