There are about 3,500 prisoners in Ireland. If we used prison at the same rate as they do in America, we would have 35,000. If we incarcerated with the same enthusiasm as the English, we would have in the region of 7,000.

By any yardstick, ours is a small prison population and we have been insulated from the chill penal wind that has swept across other countries. But while the prison population might be modest in size, it could be significantly reduced.

There are a number of ways to do this:

Increase the standard rate of remission from 25% to 33% for all offenders serving fixed sentences.

Introduce a structured system of parole with defined eligibility periods. For example, automatic release after serving half of the sentence for first-time offenders who do not pose a risk. Give the Parole Board the power to order release other than in exceptional circumstances. At present all release decisions are at the discretion of the minister for justice.

Allow weekend and evening prisons so that suitable offenders can remain in employment, compensate their victims, and retain responsibility for their families. Draw up waiting lists for offenders who do not pose a threat to public safety. Provide separate accommodation for immigration-related cases.

Tackle fine defaulters effectively. It is of considerable concern that people whose offending is not serious enough to attract a custodial sentence end up in prison because they cannot, or will not, pay their fines. A study by the UCD Institute of Criminology showed that these people were almost certain to end up back behind bars (85% within four years). So keeping them out of prison has the added virtue of reducing the rate of recidivism.

Require judges to consider all other options before imposing a prison sentence and give a written reason justifying prison when it is deemed the appropriate sanction.

The average annual cost per prisoner place in Ireland is breathtakingly high: from €70,000 in Loughan House to €247,000 in Portlaoise. Despite the huge expense, plans for a “super prison” at Thornton Hall in north Dublin are well advanced. The conditions in Mountjoy, which Thornton Hall will replace, are deplorable. Yet proceeding as planned may not be to our collective advantage.

Generally speaking, small prisons work best. A site as large as Thornton will not satisfy this key requirement. Big prisons need to be highly regimented, and life within them has an assembly-line quality.

Individual needs can become lost in the drive to meet institutional priorities. These are dehumanising places where security and order are difficult to maintain, vulnerable prisoners become isolated, and the slim chance of reform is further attenuated.

Prisons also work best if they are located close to prisoners’ homes. While the 16km to Thornton Hall from Dublin’s city centre might be no great distance for a motorist, it is another world for prisoners’ families used to walking, or catching a bus, to the North Circular Road where Mountjoy prison is located.

There will be few families within easy reach of the new site and it will be awkward to access using public transport. This is not good for the maintenance of family and community ties.

The proposed development is also too ambitious. Prisoners serving sentences and on remand, and posing a wide range of risks of violence, self-harm and escape — all will be held on a single site. It seems likely that the Central Mental Hospital will be relocated to the same campus. This diversity may militate against effective sentence management.

While necessary in some cases, imprisonment is hugely expensive and inherently harmful. I have a proposal that might strike an effective balance between the desire to expand and the need to contract. It is to take four old prison cells out of commission for every three new ones constructed.

This would serve the important purpose of establishing a firm link between new buildings and an overall policy of minimising the use of custody. The emphasis would be on fewer, but better, cells.

It is a low-risk approach, because if it proved demonstrably unsuccessful it would be easy to revise. In the meantime the financial savings could be put to good use in our healthcare and education systems, places where additional resources are sorely needed.

Ian O’Donnell is professor of criminology at University College Dublin. This is an edited version of an article to be published in the winter issue of Studies. See www.studiesirishreview.ie

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