Source
r/ireland•
malilk

"The jails are full"

Moaning Michael

Can anyone explain to me why this seems to be a factor in sentencing by the Irish judiciary? Non custodial sentences seem to be commonplace for heinous crimes committed by repeat offenders and this is often cited (by punters, not in official statements) as a reason why?

Is it just regurgitated nonsense or is there some element of truth to it? And if there is, does anyone know why that would be a factor? Surely that's up to the prison system not the judge, just like arresting people is for na gardaí and prosecuting for the DPP etc.

Posted Mar 9, 2022, 4:53 PM UTC

917
Shut_Up_YouGlory to Ukraine•

Daily Irish prison population.

Updated every single day, available to everyone & breaks down each prison location as well as specific blocks.

Caveat, The true capacity of the prisons mightn't actually be what is listed here. Some capacity may be unusable for a variety of reasons, but even if you scrub 5-8% it's not a bad indicator.

13
malilkOP•

Doesn't explain why that would affect a judge's sentence, if it does. Thanks though.

1
here2dare•

It's not that jails are full literally, it's that resources needed to run existing prisons are stretched beyond limits

5
malilkOP•

And I'm not sure why that should factor into a judge's decision? They don't run the prison system

0†
here2dare•

That's like saying that the HSE are not responsible for waiting lists

Our entire justice system is not up to scratch

1
malilkOP•

That's not an apt comparison. The HSE isn't out injuring people or making them sick. It treats what it's given. Prison system deals with the criminals they get.

The prison system deals with prisoners. That's where the comparison would be the HSE to the prison system.

1
here2dare•

That's not an apt comparison. The HSE isn't out injuring people or making them sick

But you think that judges are?

0
timothyclaypole•

It’s basically not real.

What has happened (maybe still does) is if someone gets a short sentence for a minimal crime (the perfect example was someone being jailed because they refused to pay for a tv license) and if they get to prison and if there’s no room then the prison authorities have allowed that person to serve only a tiny portion of their sentence before being released.

Some people believe that because that might have happened occasionally in the past that judges have used their knowledge of how full prisons are to avoid giving people jail sentences.

There’s no evidence that has ever happened - judges always give reasons for why they sentence people in every case. Whilst many people disagree with the various reasons judges sometimes provide for lighter or non custodial sentences as far as I know the busyness of our prison service has never been part of those explanations.

5
malilkOP•

I figured that was the case. Thanks for the salient response.

1
W0lf87•

Our judiciary are just far too lenient. Take for example Judge Nolan and believe there was one in Ennis Clare who hands out very minimal sentences to people who commit violent crimes including sexual child abuse. Take those 3 cunts from Tallaght who died on the motorway during a chase, they had around 200 convictions and were in the process of committing a crime, any normal society they would already be on Jail.

4
[deleted]•

[deleted]

3†
EIREANNSIANHumanity has been crossed•

He got four years the first time (fully suspended), the appeal just gave him 3 years suspended, gave him one year in jail.. (of which he'll likely serve 9 months, if not less....)

3
OddEstimate3167•

When the jail's are full the skagheads will roam the earth

2
MeinhofBaaderUlster•

Today, in easily Googleable questions...

Our official prison capacity is 4375

Our prison population is 3939

1†
malilkOP•

Yeah that's the whole picture. Thanks.

1
Extremely-Bad-Idea•

Reality is a prison. Watch "The Matrix" trilogy. : )

0
harmlessdissent•

Its to get people to demand private prisons upon themselves, that's the only way they will expand in capacity under our piece of shit government of profiteering scumbags.

-5