Mulgrave Street prison has 324 capacity
EVERY inmate place in Limerick prison has been filled an average of six and a half times over in the first 10 months of this year. And a senior psychologist involved in the prison service says the turnaround is directly affected by falling numbers and mounting pressure in the probation and welfare service.
In total, 2,134 people were committed to Limerick Prison up to October of this year and 1,887 were released from jail in the same period.
Dr John Bogue, a forensic criminal psychologist, who compiles a large number of the psychological reports which Limerick judges request in relation to accused people, says the turnover reflects the reason why many people are in jail in the first place.
“Custody, especially for a young person, is a last resort and judges are no more inclined than ever to send people to jail. What we are seeing on the ground is a lot of vacancies in the probation service, and if that service is under-resourced, it can’t supervise people in the community, then there are breaches of conditions imposed by the courts and people go to jail,” he told the Limerick Post.
Dr Bogue said that he believes that there are “potentially less resources” for supervising people remanded on bail, resulting in a lot of people being jailed for short periods while the courts deal with whatever charges they are facing. “There has also been an increase in the crime detection rate and that has a trickle down efect,” the psychologist added.
According to figures obtained by the Limerick Post from the prison service, there were 1,512 men and 622 women jailed between January and October of this year in a prison which has a full capacity of 324.
Just 34 of the beds are for female prisoners.
During the same period, 1,426 men were relased, and 591 women.
The lack of space to cope with the large number of people being sent to prison will not be helped by the recent government announcements concerning capital spending, which represent a death sentence for plans to build the so-called “super prison’ at Thornton Hall in north county Dublin.
Asked for a comment on how this will affect operations in Limerick Prison, Governor, Eamon Mullane, told the Limerick Post: “Since the minister’s announcement of the 2012 Capital Allocation (€24.1 million), the Irish Prison Service has commenced work on developing a five- year strategy for the continued enhancement of the prison estate, including the provision of in-cell sanitation.
“While it is not possible at this time to be specific on the funding for use in respect of Limerick, the need to improve conditions will form a significant element of the Prison Service’s strategy”.
