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Wednesday 7 June 2023 Dublin: 12°C

# Penal Reform

Last year
2022
# Penal Reform
Judges to be able to set minimum life sentences as changes to Ireland's penal system announced
The plan is to keep non-violent offenders out of prison to reduce overcrowding.
# Penal Reform
Report claims pandemic ban on prison visits and lack of psychological supports impacting prisoner health
The annual Irish Penal Reform Trust’s progress in the penal system report was published today.
All time
# Solitary Confinement
'Prisoners have a very basic human need for contact'
A change in prison rules looks at the “meaningful human contact” prisoners get when out of their cells.
Voices
Opinion: 'Prison does not cure prisoners. They do not effectively punish crime'
It is common knowledge that deaths from suicide and drug overdoses are common in Irish prisons, writes researcher Stephen Strauss-Walsh.
Voices
Column: We continue to put children in adult prisons. It is utterly unacceptable.
Young people have the highest rates of reoffending, but they also have the greatest capacity for change – scientific evidence proves this.
# Human Rights
Timeline to end 'slopping out' in prisons needs to be set
The new human rights commissioner said she is concerned about serious gaps in prison complaints procedures.
# Overcrowding
Women's prison population one third over capacity
Poor living conditions and substandard visiting conditions in state’s two female prisons.
# Crime and Punishment
End of an era: slopping out to officially end in Mountjoy this month
Twelve per cent of prisoners are currently forced to ‘slop out’ but the Prison Service says things are gradually changing.
# Penal Reform
Shatter announces major redevelopment at Limerick Prison
Both the A and B wings will be replaced with a modern, 100-cell accommodation block.
Voices
Column: Long jail terms don’t work in tackling crime – no matter what ‘common sense’ says
Our prisons are bursting, and yet we continue to lock more people up. To keep communities safe we need a serious rethink, writes Liam Herrick.
# Daily Fix
The Daily Fix: Monday
Catch up on the day’s news, including: Zuma arrives in Libya for mediation; Prison Inspector criticises investigations into prisoner deaths; and what really happens when you don’t pay your TV licence…
# Irish Prisons
Prisons' Inspector criticises procedures for investigating prisoner deaths
Judge Michael Reilly says that investigations into the deaths of prisoners do not meet the standards of international best practice and lack consistency across the country’s 14 prisons.
# Penal Reform
Labour launch policy document on penal reform
Ireland’s current penal system is ineffective and leads to overcrowded prisons, argue Pat Rabbittee and Ivana Bacik.