This article is from page 25 of the 2009-04-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 25 JPG
THE number of prisoners being admitted with heroin addictions and availing of rehabilitation pro- grammes at the overcrowded Limer- ick prison has increased by over 300 per cent in the past year.
In a stark indication of the increas- ing grip heroin is having on Clare and the mid-west’s criminal classes, Justice Minister Dermot Ahern has confirmed that 37 prisoners under- went rehab programmes at at Limer- ick prison last year.
With just ten prisoners availing of the programme in 2007, the increase coincides with a significant increase in heroin related crime offences com- ing before Clare’s court system.
Separate figures confirm the con-
tinuing problem of overcrowding at Limerick prison with Minister Ahern confirming that on April 14 last year, there were 303 people in the 275 bed Limerick prison.
He said, “The prison system is sub- ject to peaks and troughs. Numbers are particularly high when the courts are at their busiest, giving rise to a high number of committals.
“This situation is particularly ap- parent over the past 12 months, where we have seen dramatic in- creases in the number of sentenced prisoners, those being committed on remand and a trend towards longer sentences.
“The prison service must accept all prisoners committed by the courts. For example, figures show, over the past 12 years, the numbers in custody
have increased by 65 per cent.
““T acknowledge that our prisons are Operating in excess of bed capacity and it is evident that the continuation of the current capital programme is necessary if overcrowding is not to become a problem going forward.
Clare Fine Gael TD, Joe Carey said that overcrowding created extra tension and made prisoner violence more likely.
“This issue is not about prisoner comforts but about having safe ef- fective prisons which function prop- erly. Prisons cannot work properly if they are packed to over capacity. The cycle of crime cannot be broken if prisoners are not rehabilitated. I don’t believe the conditions at Lim- erick Prison are in the best interests of society as a whole.