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Looking back to the example of ‘Why did Peter do it?’, it seems clear that targeting the causes of crime is important, both for the criminal justice system and prison policy. The Prison Chaplains’ Report 2003 stated:

In many ways prisons have become the warehouse for the vulnerable offering little or no hope to many of those imprisoned there or indeed to the wider community that may be under the illusion that imprisonment will effect change.

Targeting the causes of crime can take place within the community, as an alternative to prison/custody. When imprisonment is necessary, a focus on rehabilitation and re-integration is of paramount importance. The question ‘what do we want people to be like when they leave prison?’ constantly needs to be asked. Therefore a number of issues need to be addressed.

Treating Drug Dependency

Two of Ireland’s prisons (Mountjoy and Cloverhill) have the largest drug stabilisation programmes in the country.

However, adequate attention to the needs of people who have a drug dependency within their community setting could substantially reduce crime and lessen the need for expensive prison places.

For instance, during the two years which some drug users have to wait to get onto a methadone treatment programme, a person could conceivably commit 1,500 crimes – if we calculate that he or she is likely to commit, on average, two crimes a day to feed their habit.

Recognising Personal Trauma and Mental Health issues

Many people in prison have experienced traumatic childhoods. Studies have shown that many women prisoners with substance abuse problems have turned to drugs and alcohol as a way to deal with experiences of abuse and violence, which in turn led to their involvement with crime.

A substantial number of prisoners suffer from mental illness. Access to counselling, psychiatric services and other forms of care are important within and post-release from prison.

Access to Employment and Training

Matt's experience of education in prison was mixed. Listen to what he has to say:

Access to and take up of educational opportunities in prison is mixed. In 2012, the average participation rate in education for all prisons was 50 per cent of the prison population.  In the summer of 2012, 85 prisoners sat Leaving Cert exams, which represented an almost 30% decrease since 2010. 127 sat Junior Certificate exams and it was estimated that about 600 others were taking FETAC courses.

There are currently 13 vacant teaching positions in Irish prisons, six in the Midlands prison. When there isn't enough teachers, it is hard for people to take up education. 

Access to Housing

A high number of prisoners have experienced homelessness at some point in their lives. For some, they were first homeless as a child. The reality is that for most people who enter prison homeless, leave prison homeless.

Community Integration

Having spent time in prison, for some leaving can be a very traumatic experience. Listen to what Matt has to say:

When people leave prison, where do they go? Where are they welcome?

Re-integrating people who were in prison back into their community is key to developing their self-esteem, self-worth and sense of belonging. Local support groups and pre-release programmes are important and essential in the transition from prison to the community.

Many prisoners find it difficult to adjust to life in the community after they have been released from prison. The prison environment does not help to rehabilitate prisoners back into the community. The lack of control prisoners have over their daily routine undermines the sense of control they have over their lives and makes it difficult to adjust to living independently again. Some prisoners have reported that it is a confusing and daunting experience to go out in public or to take care of practicalities such as applying for jobseekers’ allowance. Others have described that they find it difficult to find stability without the daily structure and companionship they were used to. Some prisoners have no place to stay.

For many ‘re-integration’ is: re-integration back to the same homelessness that brought me into the prison in the first place, re-integration onto drug infested streets and areas where violence and fear rule the day and ruin the lives of the many young men and women, reintegration? Was I ever integrated in the first Instance? (Prison Chaplain Report 2005)

Preventing Recidivism

A key purpose of re-integration is to prevent recidivism. This means preventing the ex-prisoner from re-offending.

Most prisoners come from communities that do not have enough financial or social supports to manage people returning from prison. Therefore, re-integration services are crucial to prevent prisoners from experiencing the same circumstances that led to their imprisonment. It is especially important to provide support during the first year of release, as this is when former prisoners are most at risk of re-offending. Extra support is needed for those who have drug and alcohol addictions and for those who are unemployed, have literacy difficulties and few educational qualifications. However, there are some problems with our current re-integration services.

A study of 19,000 prisoners in 2008 showed that almost 50% of them experienced re-imprisonment within 4 years of release. The study predicted that 60% of people who had been in prison in recent years will be imprisoned again.

Some prisons provide pre-release courses, to help prisoners to re-adjust - but many long-term prisoners are suddenly released with little preparation, and little or no social support. Prisoners who are released with no place to stay are provided with a free phone number that they can call to arrange emergency, short-stay accommodation, which is often of a very low standard. The majority of re-integration services are available in Dublin and so prisoners from outside this area are more likely to be imprisoned again.

Many released prisoners find that they have very limited opportunity to change.

In Ireland, unlike the UK, there is no spent conviction legislation. This means that if a person was 18 years or older when they committed a crime, they continue to have a criminal record for their whole life.

This makes it very difficult to get a job, to ever get a mortgage to buy a home or even to set up a bank account.

Prison in its Place - The Choice we Face

Within the space of 20 years Ireland’s number of prison places will have doubled; when new prison developments are completed in 2012 the Irish prison system will have the potential to incarcerate 4,500 people on any given day.

It is not the case that there is no role for imprisonment, but perhaps we need to think about using it along with a range of other possible responses - all of which should have the objective of moving offenders away from crime. Our response to crime needs to address the issues underlying the offending behaviour, such as addiction, effects of trauma, poor education, mental health and lack of suitable accommodation.

A 2007 TNS/MRBI poll commissioned by the Irish Penal Reform Trust found that only 5 per cent of respondents identified building additional prison places as their preferred measure for tackling prison, while 66 per cent surveyed believed that most people come out of prison worse than they went in.

In 2014, 13,408 people were sent to our prisons, compared to 13,055 in 2013. 

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The recidivism (repeat offending) rate for people coming out of prison is extremely high. 

In a study on recidivism, O’Donnell et al found that nearly 1 in 4 individuals released from prison will have re-offended and be back in prison before the end of the year. The same study found that 1 in 2 prisoners released will be back in custody within 4 years.

There has been an increase in short sentences in recent years. In 2014, the number of prison sentences of less than 3 months increased by 8% compared to 2013.

Study the graph: The difference between the two lines (persons committed: blue, number of committals: red) highlights the repeat offending and short sentencing that occurs.

What Crimes are People sent to Prison for?

When we think of prison we often have the impression that they contain people who are of danger to society, are violent, and ‘deserve’ to be there.

Prison is not reserved for the most violent in our society, many are prisoners extremely vulnerable, who have been neglected by society.

In fact, almost 90 per cent of sentences to prison in 2014 were for non-violent offences.

In 2014, 13,408 people were committed (sentenced and remanded) to prison, this figure highlights the ‘through put’ of people entering prison and the use of short sentencing, as there is a bed capacity for 4,126.

Prisoners Committed under Sentence in 2007

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Look at the chart on the right - it highlights, in broad terms, what offences people were committed for under sentence in 2007. Each category is sub-divided into particular offences, for example ‘Offences against the person’ includes people sentenced for assault, sexual offences, murder/manslaughter (35) and other.

Next: "Living in Prison"

Profile of Prisoners

Many prisoners are among the most vulnerable people in our society.

A large number of prisoners left school early, experience literacy and learning difficulties and have a history of unemployment. Many prisoners suffer from mental illness and experience drug and alcohol addictions. A substantial number of prisoners have experienced homelessness at some point in their lives.

In 2008 the Prison Chaplains’ Report stated that ‘Prisons have simply become dumping grounds for those rejected by society.’

Women in Prison

The majority of women sentenced to imprisonment are convicted of non-violent crimes.

In Christina Quinlan’s study of women in Ireland’s largest detention facility for women, the Dóchas Centre, she found the women were imprisoned for crimes of poverty such as shoplifting. In general women are committed for unsophisticated crimes and are not involved with organised crime.

Men in Prison

The vast majority of prisoners are men under the age of 40.

The most common category of offence for which they are serving sentences is “offences against property without violence”, followed by the category of “other offences”, which includes crimes such as failure to comply with a Garda order and intoxication in a public place. Many of them are serving sentences of less than one year.

Asylum Seekers and Migrants in Prison

Our prisons also hold asylum seekers who are being detained under immigration law. They have not committed a crime but must stay in a prison while their asylum applications are being processed or while they are waiting to be deported. The number of people detained under these laws changes from year to year. In 2003 as many as 1,852 immigrants were held in prison. In 2012, 385 people were held. Most of them are held for less than one week.

The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture visited Irish prisons in 2006 and stated that prisons are not appropriate places to hold immigrants. However, the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill, which is currently going through the Oireachtas, will ensure the continued use of prisons for this purpose.

Young Men in Prison

A young person describes his experience of prison since the age of 14 CLICK HERE

Ireland has one of the youngest prison populations in Europe. For young people, time spent in prison is predominantly in their cells, with little personal development or pre-release planning. In 2014, more than 70 per cent of people sentenced to prison were serving short, more than likely highly disruptive and unstructured sentences of 3 months or less.

Imprisoning young people in prison can have a very negative effect on the ‘life chances of the young person’ in terms of accessing employment, relationships with family, access to stable accommodation, mental health, motivation, and expectations about what life can offer.

Prison can have a devastating and long lasting impact upon a young person during the period of transition from adolescence to adulthood. Whilst many young people expect their early adult years to be spent in colleges or universities – learning and developing in a supportive and independent environment – we consign a large proportion of young people to an environment which strips them of their responsibilities, stunts their opportunities for integration into adult society.

(The Howard League for Penal Reform, Out for Good, ‘A sobering thought: Young men in prison’, 2004:2)

Ireland imprisons more young people (under 25) than any other European country.

Most of the children and young people that come before the courts, come from a disadvantaged background and have a negative perception of school.

There are serious questions as to whether prison is the proper place for people so young. Until 2013, a large number of children (aged between 16-18) were imprisoned in the adult prison St. Patricks Institution; this is in contravention of Ireland’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

A two week daily report of The Children’s Court by Carl O’Brien, of the Irish Times, gives a picture of the types of offences children are being charged with before the courts. Check out the links below:

14 July 2008 Only available care option for boy (12) is out-of-hours hostel

15 July 2008 We're not a court for holding people while authorities are wandering around trying to find out people's identities

16 July 2008 Can I just see my Mam? Please? Judge will you let me see her . . . I need me Ma. Can you not just sentence me now, judge. Please!

17 July 2008 'He's a child, judge . . .' Ms Finan said. '. . . and that's what makes it all the more shocking,' Judge Leonard interjected

18 July 2008 'He sat in a grey hoodie with his arms folded. His legs dangled from the side of the chair, not long enough to touch the ground'

21 July 2008 The boy shook his head angrily and stared at his solicitor

22 July 2008 She was extremely intimidating and verbally abusive. She threatened to stab one member of the care staff in the neck

23 July 2008 'I want to stay in custody for a while,' said the 17-year-old boy in a weary voice. 'I want to stay for as long as I can'

24 July 2008 'If he's not prepared to take the chances he's been given, why should the court? There are a lot of serious offences here'

25 July 2008 She grabbed me by the hair and was hitting me and I hit her back. Then a copper arrived and I was being abusive then

Next: "Committals to Prison"

What are the causes of crime?

How we answer the question “what are the causes of crime?” depends on our attitudes to society, justice, authority and so forth, attitudes which have been shaped to a large extent by our own experiences.

If I have a good secure job, good income and feel relatively fulfilled in life, then my attitude to society and its structures is likely to be very positive. If, on the other hand, I have been unemployed since leaving school (early) and no prospect of any significant change in my circumstances is in sight, then I might feel that a radical change in the structures of society is called for. These different attitudes will affect my understanding of the causes of crime.

Ireland’s response to crime

The predominant response to the problem of crime in Ireland over the past few decades has been tougher criminal justice measures, tougher on Peter - from the earlier example - rather than answering the question “why did Peter do it?”. Thus

• the number of Gardaí has risen from 8,500 in the 1980s to just under 13,000 today
• the numbers being committed to prison annually have risen from 4,200 in 1983 to almost 13,500 today
• the daily number of those in custody has risen from 1,600 in 1983 to 4,000 today
• the average length of sentence has risen considerably over that time
• mandatory sentencing for some offences has been introduced
• new legislation in regard to drugs, sexual offences, firearms, public order offences and anti-social behaviour has been introduced

Despite all these measures, the incidence of crime has not changed. The evidence would appear to suggest that the crime rate has not responded to tougher criminal justice policies.

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Has rehabilitation been seriously tried?

Rehabilitation within the prisons, in terms of education, work-training, counselling etc., in many of Ireland’s prisons continues to be inadequate. picture on the right. It is a notice on the wall in Mountjoy Prison. Consider all the difficulties a person might have adjusting to life after prison when their life inside has been like this.

Are social problems like poverty factors in crime?

Social deprivation and poverty are accepted more and more as major contributing factors to the problem of crime. But the need to provide immediate solutions to immediate problems (such as joyriding) receives priority even though in the medium to long-term it may be a waste of resources, especially when it does not change the underlying causes.

What is being tackled?

There have been some attempts to tackle the deeper social or family problems that contribute to criminal behaviour, such as preventative or early intervention programmes,but they are regularly under the threat of closure due to lack of continued financial support.

Our political responses to crime need to have a long-term agenda, focusing on the causes of crime and criminal behaviour, rather than just locking people up behind bars with no hope of improving their life circumstances.

Next: "Targeting the Causes of Crime/Offending Behaviour"