| dc.description.abstract | Ireland obtained independence from the United Kingdom, and commenced administering its own prison system, in 1922. At that stage, prisons in Ireland were managed by the General Prisons Board, an agency which was governed by the Ministry for Home Affairs. The influence of the United Kingdom on prisons in Ireland has been very considerable, with many of the prisons which are still in use following the classic Victorian design found there. The legal regulation and internal regimes of the prisons were also the product of British administration and legislation, such as The Prisons (Ireland) Act 1826, and the Prisons (Ireland) Act 1907. At independence, the prison population stood at 462 prisoners, with 2038 spaces available. However, all of Irish life was to be interrupted violently with the outbreak of the Civil War in 1922 between forces which supported and opposed the agreement with the United Kingdom which gave independence to 26 counties of Ireland, but which left what became Northern Ireland under British rule. This conflict had profound effects on all aspects of the criminal justice system. The prison population increased dramatically. While it is difficult to ascertain exact figures, the average daily prison population increased by over 50% in the course of two years. Once the conflict subsided, the General Prisons Board was dissolved and the Department of Justice eventually became directly responsible for prison policy and the governance of prisons. For around 50 years after independence, the prison population in Ireland remained low, but large numbers of people were detained outside the formal prison system in network of sites including psychiatric hospitals and sites which detained women who had children outside of marriage. In the early 1970s, the Irish prison population began to increase, which increase was sustained until the mid 1990s, and then recurring in the 2000s-2010s. The effect of “the Troubles” – that is the conflict related to the status of Northern Ireland, which claimed thousands of lives – on Irish prison policy has been very significant, resulting in a security focus to prison policy for many decades, and hostility to outside interest in prison issues amongst government officials. While that terrible part of Irish history is now largely over, Ireland has recently returned to perennial difficulties of overcrowding and increasing prison numbers. At the time of writing, the prison population stands at 4677 people in prison, representing a rate of 87 people in prison per 100,000 population. The prison system is now administered by the Irish Prison Service. This is an executive agency established in 1998 which reports to the Department of Justice. Legislation was proposed in 2023 to provide a basis in statute for the Irish Prison Service (IPS). This legislation would create a non-executive board to run the IPS. | en |
