Women make up just 4pc of the Irish prison population, with a third serving sentences for theft offences, new figures show. The Irish Prison Service Annual Report for 2019 shows that out of 3,208 prisoners currently serving sentences, only 129 of those are women. The vast majority of prison sentences are less than 12 months long, with only nine life sentences last year. “A further recent feature of remand prisoners is the increasing seriousness of the criminal charges they face. Many of these remand prisoners are requiredto be detained for much longer periods than was previously the case for remand prisoners, with increasing numbers of them requiring imprisonment at higher levels of security,” she added.

Source: Irish Independent June 15, 2020 19:52 UTC