Government to blame for prison overcrowding – Matt Carthy TD

Speaking following comments by the Prison Officers Association regarding the problems created by overcrowding in the Irish Prison service, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Justice, Matt Carthy TD, said the Government was to blame for the fact that the prison population in the state now exceeds 5,000 in a system with a bed capacity for 4,600.

Deputy Carthy said the failure to reduce crime and reduce recidivism meant the Irish Prison Service was now 14% overcapacity which would have serious consequences for the rehabilitation of prisoners and the prevention of future crimes.

Teachta Carthy said:

“The increase in the prison population is the direct result of years of government failure to reduce crime and to reduce recidivism. The Irish Prison Service is now under extreme pressure. This is making it increasingly difficult to manage prisons as prisons become more dangerous as tensions increase due to overcrowding. It also means that prisons cannot carry out their functions in terms of the rehabilitation of prisoners.

“Successful policing and justice reduce levels of crime and reduce the number that need to be locked up in our prisons. We have had years of failure under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael on crime prevention, on community safety and on rehabilitation.

“We need more gardai on our streets, we need investment in communities, in youth services, in youth diversion programmes, in rehabilitation and in our probation service. We need to do much better in preventing young people in particular from getting drawn into a life of crime. Under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael we have seen juvenile crime levels rise over recent years with sharp increases in reports of theft, robbery, fraud and sexual offences by teenagers.

“Failures on all these fronts and a failure to cut rates of recidivism are responsible for why we have overcrowding in our prisons. All of these failings need to be addressed. However, in the short term, the Minister for Justice needs to urgently set out what he intends to do to address the overcrowding situation in Irish prisons and the concerns raised by the Prison Officers Association at their Annual Delegate Conference today.

“Without urgent intervention by the Minister the outworking of this crisis will be that dangerous criminals, who should be in prison, will be at large within our communities.”