Virgin Media TV, Ireland AM: Prison overcrowding - IPRT
4th May 2023
On 3 May 2023, Acting Exective Director of IPRT, Molly Joyce, featured on Virgin Media TV on the Ireland AM show. She discussed the scale and implications of prison overcrowding and the impact this has on people in prison.
Speaking about the solutions, she stressed the need to prioritise implementing them before turning to prison expansion.
Ms Joyce reiterated IPRT's concerns at proposals to expand the prison estate. Creating more spaces is not the answer to overcrowding. A quicker response to overcrowding would be to prioritise other penal reform measures mentioned in the Review of Penal Policy Options. Requiring judges to consider non-custodial and community-based sanctions; improving community service; reviewing Community Support Scheme & Return Programme; implementing High Level Task Force on Mental Health & Addiction recommendations and reviewing the Fines Act would all reduce overcrowding.
Watch back the segment here.
Related items:
- Inmates still earn just 50 cents for a day's work in Irish prisons - Dublin Inquirer
- People in Ireland from poorer backgrounds are at a higher risk of going to jail, says report - Liberal.ie
- Poverty, inequality increases risk of entering the criminal justice system - IPRT - RTÉ News
- Round-up: IPRT Report Launch: From Punishment to Prevention: Poverty, Inequality and Pathways into the Irish Criminal Justice System
- Irish Penal Reform Trust Discusses Alternatives to Imprisonment - Newstalk
