A daughter of prominent publican Charlie Chawke has been released from prison just four weeks into her sentence for assaulting two men at a hotel in Adare, Co Limerick, three years ago.
Alison Chawke and her brother Bill Chawke pleaded guilty to the assault last month and were sentenced to at least one year in prison for attacking two innocent victims without provocation at the Dunraven Arms Hotel on November 9th, 2023.
Bill Chawke (31) of Merrion Street Upper, Dublin 2, was sentenced to two years and six months for the assault, with the final 12 months suspended.
Alison Chawke (41) of The Beeches, Holywell, Goatstown, Dublin 14, was sentenced to two years and two months, with the final 14 months suspended.
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The Irish Times has established Alison Chawke walked free from Limerick Prison on Tuesday, having served just a month in custody. She had no prior convictions and it is understood she was deemed eligible for release under a Community Return Scheme.
In response to queries, the Irish Prison Service (IPS) said it “does not comment on individual prisoner cases”.
The IPS said the Community Return Scheme is an “incentivised early release scheme” co-managed by the IPS and the Probation Service as part of the IPS’s prisoner “resettlement and reintegration” programme.
“It commenced in October 2011 and is now operational in every county and from every prison in the State, and targets well behaved people in custody serving sentences of between one and eight years imprisonment who are making genuine efforts to desist from reoffending,” it said.
Prisoner overcrowding is a major issue for jails nationally. The female prison in Limerick, where Alison Chawke was an inmate for the past four weeks, is currently overcrowded and operating at 159 per cent, according to data published by the IPS.
According to the IPS daily published figures, there were 89 inmates with 56 beds at the Limerick women’s prison on Wednesday. Seven prisoners were sleeping on mattresses on the floors of cells.
Bill Chawke, who had no prior convictions, remained in Limerick men’s prison which was operating at 117 per cent over capacity on Wednesday. There were 405 inmates at the jail and a total of 345 beds.
A total of 39 male prisoners were sleeping on mattresses on floors. It is not known if Bill Chawke is one of them.
Social Democrats justice spokesman Gary Gannon said he believed Alison Chawke’s release was “appropriate”, stating: “short-term prison sentences don’t work”.
“I don’t believe in short-term prison sentences, particularly for women who have children,” he said.
“I understand the level of public scrutiny – that this person would probably be in a position of better privilege than most who find themselves in prison.
“I think as long as there’s a pathway to rehabilitation, as long as the person recognises that they’ve done wrong and commits themselves to a path that addresses that behaviour, I don’t believe prison is the right place for a woman who has children.”
Sinn Féin justice spokesman Matt Carthy said the release “does raise serious questions”.
He asked: “Why has a woman from a well to do background, who has been convicted of a serious violent crime that involved kicking somebody in the head, been released under the Community Return Scheme after serving so little time?”
Carthy added: “We have to be clear that those who commit violent crimes, be they male or female, should in the interest of justice serve the custodial sentence that they were given.”
Judge Fiona O’Sullivan said Bill Chawke had been the main aggressor but that his sister who initially tried to get her brother to calm down, later become involved in what was a sustained and vicious assault.
During the assault Alison Chawke bit one of the men, John McHugh (50s), on his cheek and kicked him in the head, as her brother wrestled with McHugh on the floor of the hotel.
A Department of Justice statement said: “While the Department cannot comment on individual cases, Minister O’Callaghan is acutely aware of the capacity constraints in our prisons and the resulting challenges faced by those who work and live in our prisons.”
