Prisoner numbers plummet as new rules kick in

THERE has been a huge plunge in the prisoner population as new legislation kicks in to save debtors from incarceration.

A Prison Service report shows that last year there were only 9,287 committals to prison, a drop of 38.5% on 15,099 in 2016.

Last year saw the first full affect of the 2016 Fines Act, which removed imprisonment as the default penalty for the nonpayment of a court-ordered fine.

The law was brought in after it emerged the majority of prison committals in Ireland in 2015 were for non-payment of fines, and that these were clogging up the administration system, especially in female prisons.

In 2014, for example, 411 people were sent to prison for non-payment of their TV licence after a court appearance.

It also emerged that many people jailed for such fines were simply processed through the prison computer system and told to go home, making it an ineffective punishment.

Instead of being jailed, offenders are now landed with attachment orders hitting their income or bank accounts, or deductions at source from their social welfare payments.

The number of committals for the nonpayment of a fine collapsed by nearly threequarters last year, from 8,439 in 2016 to only 2,261 in 2017.

There were also 2,215 community service orders made in 2017, compared with 2,067 in 2016. This represents an increase of approximately 7%, helping to further explain the record numbers of convicts staying out of jail.

Last year also saw the complete closure of St Patrick’s Institution for juvenile offenders. This had been a key Government commitment.

Recruitment of prison officers also began again for the first time since the financial crisis in 2008, with 85 new staff entering training. Over 200 further recruits will follow them this year.

Meanwhile, an amendment to Ireland’s Prison Rules in 2017 has virtually eliminated solitary confinement, bringing the country in line with the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, known as ‘the Mandela rules’.

There has been a huge drop in the number of prisoners in solitary confinement, from 72 at the beginning of last year to just nine by the year’s end. In 2013, by contrast, 211 prisoners on average were held in solitary.

Prison committals for all of 2017 totalled 9,287, dropping from 15,099 in 2016 – and down from a total of 17,206 in 2015.