Clinker county

PEOPLE in Limerick are up to four times more likely to be jailed than other counties, figures revealed.

The region has the highest imprisonment rate with 237 people per 100,000 of population sent to jail last year.

Next in line was Dublin with 185 for every 100,000 residents.

In total 2,490 people who had given an address in the capital were sent to jail, with around 15% of them women.

Carlow and Longford also had higher-than-average rates of imprisonment with 179 per 100,000 of the population and 176 respectively.

Leitrim and Donegal were the most law-abiding.

Their rates were almost a quarter of Limerick’s with 60 per 100,000 people imprisoned in

Theprison

Donegal and 59 in Leitrim. by the Irish Prison Service. A rate in Cork was below the spokesman said: “Figures for national average at 133 people 2017 show the fines committal imprisoned for every 100,000 figure for [the year] is 2,262, a people who live there. percentage drop of 73% on the

Many of the lowest rates 2016 figure of 8,439 were found in the West as and a 77% [reduction] Roscommon and Sligo had on the 2015 rates almost half of national figure of 9,883. average at just 48. “The Irish

Comparatively low rates Prison Service were also found in the counties welcomes the surrounding Dublin with reduction in Kildare, Meath and Wicklow committals as it all below 100 committals per has resulted in a 100,000 people. significant saving

And just 19 people in Leitrim in ‘man hours’ were jailed last year. which would

In total, 7,484 people were have been spent committed to prison in 2017. processing these

This is a dramatic fall on persons.” previous years due to new The source added the legislation meaning far fewer benefits were also being felt by people went to jail for nonpayment gardai and the courts where of fines. bureaucracy had been cut.

This drop has been welcomed They said: “There was an enormous amount of pointless work going on.

“Going through the long process of jailing people for non-payment of fines with many of them released from custody almost immediately.”

In 2016, almost one in five of those committed to prison were women whereas last year that figure dropped below 15%.

The national average is skewed by a significant number of people who gave addresses outside the country and those of no fixed abode.

However, it is worked out at 141 per 100,000 when those groups were excluded.

YESTERDAY

often Altogether, 415 people with “no fixed abode” were imprisoned last year, with a significant portion thought to be homeless.

Another 87 people – almost evenly split between women (40) and men (47) – gave an address outside of Ireland to prison authorities.

In the cases of 234 people, no address was stated.

There were also a small number of committals of residents from the North, with 52 from the six counties.

Of all of those imprisoned, 1,081 of them were women and 6,403 were men, according to figures from the Irish Prison Service.

This represented a sizable shift in the gender breakdown, again understood to be directly linked to legislation on nonpayment of fines.

1. LIMERICK – 237 committals per 100,000

2. DUBLIN – 185

3. CARLOW – 179

4. LONGFORD – 176

5. WESTMEATH – 157

The Irish prison service welcomes reduction in committals IRISH PRISON SERVICE SPOKESMAN

1. LEITRIM – 59 committals per 100,000

2. DONEGAL – 60

3. SLIGO – 73

4. ROSCOMMON – 74

5. MEATH – 77