The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) has called for financial resources and political will to be invested in supporting and championing effective alternatives to prison.

The trust highlighted the rising prison population, which has hit record numbers above 5,000 this year.

In its pre-budget submission, it warned that the resources needed to continually expand the prison estate would be “a financial and social drain on the State for decades to come”.

It added, however, that the Irish Prison Service (IPS) should be adequately resourced in the short term to ensure that it could safely staff overcrowded prisons.

Restorative justice

The submission calls for investment in six areas:

• Measures to respond to mental health and addiction (€1.4 million),
• Reducing remands to custody (€300,000),
• Investing in alternatives to prison (€270,000),
• Enhancing accountability (€450,000),
• Supporting children and families (€1 million), and
• Preventing homelessness (€300,000).

Among the specific areas targeted, the IPRT calls for more resources for the prison psychology service and addiction counselling.

It urges more investment in restorative justice as an alternative to prison, and “appropriate resourcing” of the bodies responsible for implementing the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT).