Building more prisons is not the answer

Sir, – The prison population has reached 5,000 for the first time in the history of the State.

The proposal to build more prisons is a lazy, unimaginative response.

Many people think our prisons are full of dangerous people and sentencing them to prison is protecting society. While some indeed are, 70 per cent of those sentenced to prison have an addiction, and they serve their sentence in a prison full of drugs and are released with an addiction; 70 per cent have a mental health problem which will only get worse while in prison; 70 per cent are sent to prison for less than 12 months for less serious offences which could, with some political will and imagination, be dealt with more efficiently, and certainly more cheaply, with non-custodial penalties.

Most come from a small number of very deprived neighbourhoods and will return there on release. Most have left school early and many are functionally illiterate. Many are homeless going into prison and will be released again into homelessness.