Fine Gael response to prison overcrowding is ‘disgraceful’, says TD

Labour justice spokesperson Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD has describerd the Minister for Justice Simon Harris’ response to prison overcrowding as “out of touch and inhumane”.

Deputy Ó Ríordáin said tackling socioeconomic disadvantage is the solution to prison overcrowding, not building more prisons.

“It is bankrupt thinking from the Minster to suggest that the solution to prison overcrowding is more prisons,” he said.

“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.

“This has had a knock-on effect on prison conditions.

“Prison conditions generally were poor, characterised by drug misuse, violence, gang conflict and inadequate physical conditions.

“Opportunities for rehabilitation are limited, and prisoners are released in an unstructured way with few measures available to prevent re-offending.”

Deputy Ó Ríordáin said Minister Harris is going against expert opinion which suggests 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 re-offending rates.

“The arguments for de-carceration are compelling.

“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.

“Indeed, 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.”