The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) welcomes the Cabinet decision to increase the use of Community Service Orders. This follows recommendations made by the Probation Service to greatly extend the number of community service places; it also answers consistent calls from IPRT for a greater use of community sanctions in dealing with less serious offences.
Against [...]

4,132 IN PRISON CUSTODY IN IRELAND
The number of prisoners in custody in Irish prisons was 4,132 on Monday 1st Feb, 2010. This is an increase of 11% on the numbers of custody the same week in 2009. (These figures do not include those out on temporary release.) This acceleration in prison population growth, in an [...]

New report aims to inform best practice in the detention of children in conflict with the law
The Irish Penal Reform Trust has today launched a new report: Detention of Children in Ireland: International Standards and Best Practice,  outlining the legal framework, policies and practices regarding the use of custodial measures for children in Ireland and [...]

The Irish Penal Reform Trust will publish a new report: Detention of Children in Ireland: International Standards and Best Practice. The report, which will be launched Monday 30th November in Dublin, considers the implementation of international human rights standards to children detention in Ireland, and details best practice examples from Ireland and other European jurisdictions.
The [...]

Incontrovertible and devastating evidence of chronic conditions in the largest prison in the State has been released in the Report of an Inspection of Mountjoy Prison by the Inspector of Prisons, which had been published today. The report details the appalling treatment of prisoners in Mountjoy Prison. These are core human rights issues, and the [...]

Thornton Hall to go ahead despite overwhelming evidence that ‘super-prisons’ do not work
300 prisoners is the maximum manageable size of a prison, according to incontrovertible international evidence presented at the ‘Re-imagining the Role of Prisons in Irish Society’ Open Forum last week, yet the government - whose officials were in attendance at the IPRT event [...]

In a press release today, IPRT welcomed the Government announcement that it is to reconsider the proposed building of what would have been the largest prison in the State, and one of the largest prisons in Europe, at Thornton Hall. We believe that the decision to rethink Thornton Hall is an opportunity to conduct a [...]