Ireland is ‘addicted to prisons’ and should stop sending people down for petty crimes, the former Governor of Mountjoy Prison has said.

John Lonergan is calling for a cap on prison places – warning that the vast majority of Ireland’s prisoners are behind bars for sentences of 12 months or less.

He said the Irish courts should be making use of alternatives to prison where people are convicted of less serious crimes.

On Newstalk Breakfast, he said there should be a clear differentiation between violence against the person and other crimes – noting that very few people are serving short sentences for violent crimes.

File photo of Governor John Lonergan outside Mountjoy Prison, 17-12-2004. Image: RollingNews

He said a major report into Ireland’s prison called for a cap on prison numbers just short of 40 years ago – and things have only gotten worse in the years since.

“In those days, we had less than 2,000 prisoners,” he said.

“Today we have over 5,000 … and we are still struggling with overcrowding and it continues and the only solution ever put forward is more prisons.

“It’s quite obvious now that more prisons on their own just doesn't work, so I am one of those who would advocate that we must look at alternatives.

“We have, actually, an obsession with prison and if you look at it, the figures back that up.

“The latest figures we have is for 2022 and 74% of all people serving a sentence in that year were serving 12 months or less. That, I suppose, is the proof in the pudding.”

Violent crime

Mr Lonergan said it is important not to get caught up with cases that have recently hit the news when considering the future of prisons.

He said we need to differentiate between violence against the person and all other criminality when considering imprisonment.

“That's one of the things we haven't done,” he said.

“In my time, people were inclined to get far larger sentences for crimes against property than they were against people and my thinking is very clear - and I don't differentiate, by the way, between any degree of violence or any particular violence - violence against a person is just not acceptable.

“There's very few people in prison serving 12 points or less for violence against a person – those are the facts.”

Sentencing

He said the courts should be empowered to consider new alternatives to prison for less serious crimes.

“For instance, if a person is working and they commit a crime, why not make them pay the victim or pay society back by deducting a part of their wages every week for maybe two or three years?” he asked.

“In that way, they are contributing to the State; they are repaying or compensating victims.”

Prison figures

Yesterday, there was a total of 5,747 people being held in Irish prisons – including just over 900 who are on remand awaiting trial.

It means there are over 1,200 more prisoners than official beds in Ireland’s prisons.

On this day in 2015, there were 4,472 people being held in our prisons – some 1,275 fewer than there are today.

There was a total of 5,801 people committed to prison in Ireland in 2022, according to the Irish Prison Service.

That is nearly three times fewer than the 14,182 people committed to prison in 2015.

You can listen back to Mr Lonergan here: