The Inspector of Prisons recognised that in certain areas prisons will not be able to comply with all of his recommendations in the short term. As long as there is overcrowding and limitations on resources, there will be difficulties in achieving full implementation of those recommendations.
As the Deputy will appreciate, the Irish Prison Service must accept all prisoners committed by the Courts into its custody and does not have the option of refusing committals. There has been a consistent increase in the total prisoner population in Ireland over recent years, with significant increases in the number of sentenced prisoners and those being committed on remand, as well as a trend towards longer sentences. It should also be recognised, however, that while the problem of prison overcrowding remains a challenging issue, and action is being taken on a number of fronts to address that issue, Ireland traditionally has had a low rate of imprisonment.
It can be difficult to make direct and accurate comparisons with the penal systems in other countries, but it is worth noting that the latest Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics published last March show that France has a higher number of persons in prison per 100,000 inhabitants (103.5) than Ireland (97.4) and a higher occupancy rate of 108.4% compared to Ireland's rate of 101.7 %.
I have no proposals along the lines suggested by the Deputy, but a strategic review of penal policy is underway and I will consider all of the options that emerge from that review.
