News Release: ‘Doubling of Prison Places for Women not Supported by Statistics on Convictions and Committals to Prison’, says Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice

6 November 2008

Current plans to double the number of prison places for women are not supported by either the statistics in relation to the crimes for which women are convicted or the statistics which show how imprisonment is currently used in respect of women, says the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice.

In an article in the November 2008 issue of the journal, Working Notes, the Director of the Centre, Fr Tony O’Riordan SJ, and co-author Daragh McGreal, analyse both the Central Statistics Office (CSO) data on court convictions against women and Irish Prison Service statistics on the imprisonment of women, over the period 2003 to 2006.* Neither set of figures, the authors say, provide reason to so radically expand prison provision for women.

Convictions against Women
The data on convictions, the authors suggest, show that there is no evidence of an upward trend in crime by women; that the majority of convictions against women are in respect of less serious crimes and that a very small proportion are convictions for serious incidents. In 2004, for example, 27 per cent of convictions were for ‘theft and related offences’ and another 25 per cent were for road traffic incidents of a non-serious nature. Just 11 per cent were for ‘dangerous or negligent acts’; 1 per cent were for ‘assaults causing harm’. In regard to convictions coming within the category ‘homicide’, there were no convictions for murder in that year and 4 convictions (representing 0.45 per cent of the total) for ‘dangerous driving leading to death’.

Imprisonment of Women
O’Riordan and McGreal argue that analysis of statistics on the imprisonment of women shows that that a very large proportion of sentences of imprisonment imposed on women are for short periods and are in respect of non-violent crimes. Over the three years, 2003 to 2005, 55 per cent of women committed under sentence had received a sentence of three months or less and 77 per cent a sentence of six months or less. In all, 91 per cent had received a sentence of less than a year, and only 4 per cent a sentence of more than two years. These sentence lengths, the authors say, reflect the non-violent nature of the vast majority of the crimes for which women are convicted: on average, over the four years 2003 to 2006, 25 per cent of women committed to prison under sentence had been convicted for ‘offences against property without violence’. They point out that women continue to been sent to prison for non-payment of debts or fines: 14 per cent of all committals under sentence in 2006, for example, were in this category. 

The authors also draw attention to the extent to which imprisonment is used for detaining women on remand or under immigration legislation. They point out during that such committals outnumber committals under sentence. In 2006, for example, out of a total of 1,160 female committals to prison, 459  (40%) were committals on remand and 292 (25%)  were immigration related.

Expansion of Prison Places not Justified
Speaking at the launch of Working Notes, Fr Tony O’Riordan SJ, said: “The Government has decided not just to move the main women’s prison, the Dóchas Centre, to the new prison complex at Thornton Hall, but to double the number of places in the Centre. And it plans also to build a new prison to accommodate forty women in Kilworth, Co. Cork. Yet examination of official figures on convictions and imprisonment do not support such an increase in the number of places.”

Fr O’Riordan pointed out that, although the current capacity of prisons for women was around 100, each year well over 900 women are committed to prison – the vast majority for very short periods of time. He said: “The reason for overcrowding in the Dóchas Centre is that imprisonment is being used inappropriately, with large numbers detained on remand, under immigration legislation, and under sentence for short periods and for relatively minor crimes.” He called for a radical increase in the provision of non-custodial alternatives aimed at addressing the complex personal and social problems which research shows underlie much of the crime committed by women.

“An approach of that kind would be more effective and less costly than the proposed increase in capacity, which seems to represent no deeper level of planning than merely projecting into the future the trends of the past”, said Fr O’Riordan.

More Prison Places equals Fewer Non-Custodial Alternatives?
He added that there is a danger that once prison places are provided there will be a systemic tendency within the criminal justice system to make sure they are filled. “The existence of the places will lessen any impulse to try to expand non-custodial alternatives, and to truly make imprisonment the option of last resort.” He described this policy direction as “extremely expensive in financial terms – given that the average annual cost of detaining a person in prison in Ireland now comes to around €100,000 per annum.” He added that:  “More importantly, it will be costly in terms of the lessening the chances of women reforming and rebuilding their lives, given the profoundly negative effects of imprisonment not just on the women detained but on their families, especially their children.”

Fr O’Riordan also said that issues now emerging concerning the financial viability of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) which is to be used to build the Thornton Hall complex, including the new Dóchas Centre, will almost certainly give rise to delays in commencing building work on the site. This fact, and the drop in the value of the site of the current Dóchas Centre in Mountjoy, should be seen as an opportunity to radically reconsider the plans for relocating and expanding the size of the Dóchas Centre. He reiterated a call, first made by the Jesuit Centre in May this year, that the whole question of the imprisonment of women should be the subject of a rigorous independent review, such as that undertaken by Baroness Corston in England and Wales in 2006.

[Ends]

For further information or for interviews, please contact:
Fr. Tony O’Riordan SJ, Director, Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice
Tel: 087 928 6945; 01 855 6814
Email: tony@jcfj.ie

* Note to editor:
Statistics contained in: Central Statistics Office, Garda Recorded Crime Statistics: 2003–2006, Dublin: Stationery Office, 2008; Irish Prison Service, Annual Reports 2003 to 2006.


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Director
Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice
26 Upper Sherrard Street
Dublin 1
tel: 01 855 6814
mobile: 087 928 6945
web: www.jcfj.ie
email:tony@jcfj.ie