The release of Alison Chawke four weeks into what was in effect a 12-month sentence for assault has, if nothing else, shone a light on chronic overcrowding in the prison system.
Forty-one-year-old Chawke – who assaulted two men at a hotel in Adare, Co Limerick in 2023 – was freed last week under the community return scheme which incentivises good behaviour and combines community work with probation supervision post release.
The scheme was introduced in 2011, but its terms were relaxed in 2023 as part of a range of measures aimed at taking pressure off the prison service. Prisoners serving between 12 and 18 months are eligible on committal.
Chawke is a wealthy woman, a scion of a wealthy publican and a businesswoman in her own right. Her release has garnered plenty of attention. The violent nature of her crime adds to the interest.
RM Block
But she cannot be faulted for availing of a revolving door in a fundamentally dysfunctional system which sees more people sentenced to jail for longer each year whilst the matching investment in the prison system is not made.
The number of people sent to jail each year currently outstrips the growth in the adult population and the length of sentences is also growing. The trend reflects deep societal concern, warranted or otherwise, about the level of crime. Concerns that are often fanned by the media and seized on by politicians for their own ends.
There are about 5,600 prisoners in custody across the Irish prison system, around 117 per cent of bed capacity, with in the region of 400 sleeping on mattresses on floors on any given night.
Limerick’s Women’s Prison, where Chawke was held, is the State’s newest and best prison. It is also the most overcrowded. At the time of her release there were 89 inmates for 56 beds.
The Chief Inspector of Prisons, Mark Kelly, has warned that the population in Ireland’s prisons is inching ever closer to the grim milestone of 6,000 people, despite having a bed capacity of just 4,767. He has branded it “a national disgrace” and echoed the concerns of the Council of Europe that conditions here could be a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan is never behind the door when it comes to banging the law and order drum for political gain. He committed in July last year to add 1,500 prison places costing €495 million under the National Development Plan. Some 33 places have been delivered so far this year.
Unless the Minister and his colleagues show as much enthusiasm for building prisons as they do for sending people to them, the consequences for the administration of justice are obvious.
