THERE WAS CLOSE to a 13% increase in the number of committals to prison last year when compared to 2022.

The Irish Prison Service today released its 2023 Annual Report, which shows that 6,495 people accounted for the 7,938 committals to prison last year.

This is an increase of 895, or 12.7%, on the number of committals to prison in 2022.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to prison last year (6,494) was an 11.9% increase on the 5,801 people sent to prison in 2022.

Of those committed to prison last year, 87.9% were male and 12.1% were female.

The overall daily average number of prisoners in custody also increased sharply, rising 11.1% from 4,122 in 2022 to 4,582 last year.

There was also a 23.7% increase in the daily average number of female offenders in custody, rising by 41 to hit 214 last year.

Elsewhere, 78% of sentence committals were for 12 months or less.

The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) today welcomed “efforts made to include detailed data on prison education and access to mental health services, which helps to provide greater transparency”.

In all, 1,627 people attended 9,252 psychologist sessions last year within Irish prisons, with 2,665 of these being group sessions.

Some 2,278 people were also referred to the psychology service last year and the wait times for triage following an open referral was 67 days last year.

The IPRT also welcomed progress in the continued rollout of in-cell telephones.

However, it also warned of “chronic and acute problems in prisons and in the criminal justice system more widely to stem the flow of people on short sentences into our prison system”.

The IPRT also stated that “since the end of 2023, we’ve continued to break new prison overcrowding records – with safe capacity levels breached daily”.

The IPRT also criticised the number of committals for the non-payment of court ordered fines, which increased in 2023 from 205 to 552.

It called on the new government to “shift its thinking to deliver what is needed immediately rather than continuing with the endless refrain of building more prison spaces as if that will be a silver bullet”.

The IPRT pointed to polling it commissioned in October which showed that 81% of adults “believe it is important for the next government to prioritise alternatives to imprisonment in cases of non-violent offences”.

IPRT Executive Director, Saoirse Brady, said: “We urge the incoming government to engage with those proposals and commit the necessary resources to reduce the number of people in prison overall.

“IPRT calls on any and all parties and individuals who will shortly enter Programme for Government negotiations to have the political courage to invest in proven solutions and deal with people who offend in a more effective, humane, and less costly manner.”

Brady said this would “ultimately lead to more resilient individuals, safer communities and fewer people in the criminal justice system”.