Facts & Figures

1.  The current prison population is 4,257 (5th Oct 2011)

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, not including education spend; it was €77,222in 2009 and €92,717 in 2008.

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) held 710 prisoners in a prison that should hold no more than 517 on that day, according to the Inspector of Prisons. (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, an increase of 59% on 2008.

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 women’s prison is operating at 50% over design capacity, with 127 women held there. (29th 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% in the number in custody. (January 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 the 520 prisoners who enrolled in the school at Mountjoy Prison, 20% could not read or write and 30% could only sign their names.

26.  6,969 people have been imprisoned for non-payment of court-ordered fines up to end November 2011; 6,683 was the total for 2010, 152 of whom were imprisoned for failing to pay fines imposed for not having a television licence.

27.  There are 41 children imprisoned in St Patrick's Institution, which is in breach of international human rights standards. (15th June 2011.)

28.  There are 220 children and young people in custody in St. Patrick’s Institution. (25th January 2011.) 

29.  There were 7 suicides recorded in Irish prisons in 2007, and 11 in 2008. (2009 figures are not yet available.)

30.  Since 1997, more than 1,930 new spaces have been added to an increasingly overcrowded prison system.

31.  The Irish prisoner population reached 4,587 persons in custody on April 12, 2011.

32.  There are 178 'protection' prisoners being held on 23-hr lock-up (21 Nov 2011).

33.  Over 70% of prisoners are unemployed on committal and a similar percentage self-report as not having any particular trade or occupation.

34.  1,003 prisoners are required to 'slop out'; 515 of these are in Mountjoy Prison.