Ireland
Seen in the press
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Ireland: new bail law approved by Oireachtas
Legislation providing increase guidance for the courts and greater transparency in the bail process has been approved by the Oireachtas. The Criminal Justice Bill 2016 completed its final legislative stages yesterday.Source — Irish Legal News
Ireland: prisoner numbers down as more get community service instead of jail
The number of people being committed to prison has plummeted after measures requiring judges to consider community services as an alternative to a jail term.Source — Independent
Ireland: penal reform group concerned over increased parole ineligibility for life prisoners
A penal reform group has raised concerns after the Oireachtas justice committee voted to amend the Parole Bill 2016 to raise the period of ineligibility for parole for life-sentenced prisoners from eight to 12 years.Source — Irish Legal News
Ireland: Mountjoy training unit set to be knocked down and rebuilt to accommodate older inmates in prison
Inmates who are currently housed in the training unit will be moved to other areas of the jail campus until the building, which is expected to take up to two years, is finished.Source — DUblin Live
Forty-nine prisoners still slopping out in Ireland
Forty-nine prisoners are still slopping out in Irish prisons as of January 2017, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has confirmed.Source — Irish Legal News
Ireland’s unequal treatment of women in the criminal justice system raised with the U.N.
Ireland is sending too many women to prison for non-violent offences, including failure to pay court-ordered fines, and the lack of provision of gender-specific alternatives to prison and the lack of open prison facilities for women may amount to discrimination under the UN Convention on Eliminatio…Source — IPRT
Ireland: life sentence prisoners served 22 years average in prison
Prisoners released in 2016 served on average four years more than those released in 2015. Life sentence prisoners released in 2016 served an average 22 years in custody, an increase of four-and-a-half years on 2015.Source — Irish Times
