Up to 60 per cent of inmates at Cork Prison have been jailed for the non-payment of court fines.
Governor of the prison Jim Collins says the situation is putting huge pressure on the system and that such offences should be dealt with in other ways.
An analysis of one month's figures also show that most sent to prison for evading fines are released on the same day.
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Cormac O'Keeffe of the Irish Examiner says a lot of time and resources are being wasted:
