Ó Ríordáin calls for prison sentencing reform

Labour’s justice spokesperson Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said that a dramatic rise in short-term prison sentences illustrates the need for major reform. 

Parliamentary questions provided to the Dublin Bay North TD show that almost half of prisoners in Ireland are serving sentences of less than six months, which has led to him calling for a “root and branch review of sentencing in Ireland.” 

“It’s clear that we need to see root and branch reform of sentencing in Ireland. Almost half of those sent to prison are sent for less than six months, meaning there’s little to no scope for integrating into the prison community and engaging in restorative justice projects.”

“It’s particularly stark to see that the number of people being sent to prison for less than three months is up 43% on pre-Covid figures, and up 116% since 2017,” he said.

“We need to have an honest conversation about justice here in Ireland – just who is it serving to send people to prison, only for them to boomerang out again in less than six months?”

“The clear view expressed in the many expert reports produced over the year is that prison should be a sanction of last resort; and that greater reliance should be placed on community-based sanctions to achieve more effective rehabilitation and reduce reoffending rates.”

“Prison Governors say that four-month sentences clog up the system and make little difference – we need to listen to the experts on this.”

The Labour TD said part of the problem lay with Fine Gael TD Simon Harris, who said while serving as Minister for Justice that the solution to the massive overcrowding in prisons was to build more of them.

“It’s bankrupt thinking from the Minister to suggest that the solution to prison overcrowding is more prisons. We have too many people in prison who shouldn’t be there. Our prison system is currently not working to prevent re-offending, to protect victims of crime, or to keep society safe. Instead, it is marked by pernicious overcrowding,” he said.

“It is widely accepted that prison rates have a very small impact on crime rates, and that numbers imprisoned can be lowered without exposing the public to risk. Evidence shows that measures to tackle recidivism work best within a well-ordered prison system with good sentence management strategies – and cannot work in a system characterised by severe overcrowding and unstructured release.”

“Rather than seeing prison as the go-to option, we should be looking at tackling the systemic disadvantage and inequality that continues to drive more and more people into crime.”