People born outside Ireland accounted for one-quarter of all committals to prison last year, according to official figures released yesterday.
The Irish Prison Service's annual report for 2003 shows that, of 2,500 foreign nationals in prison, 1,464 (79 per cent) were detained under immigration laws.
Most of these prisoners (70 per cent) were detained for less than a week, while almost 20 per cent were detained for more than 51 days. These were prisoners typically awaiting deportation.
The figures reflect the rapidly-changing racial profile of Irish prisons. However, they will also lead to renewed concern over the controversial practice of jailing asylum-seekers who are facing deportation.
A spokesman for the Irish Prison Service said that at any one time there were typically no more than 20 people in jail awaiting deportation.
Overall, 9,814 people were sent to prison in 2003, compared to 9,716 in 2002, an increase of 1 per cent. The average daily number of people in custody in 2003 was 3,176, an increase of 0.3 per cent on 2002.
Men accounted for more than 89 per cent of all committals - or 8,669 - last year.
Almost 20 per cent of all prisoners were under 21 years of age and 15 per cent were over 50. The corresponding figures for women were 16 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively.
Of the 11,775 committals to prison in 2002, almost 45 per cent were committals under sentence, about 16 per cent were under immigration laws and 39 per cent were on remand. Just 0.4 per cent were in prison for contempt of court. Seventy prisoners absconded from custody while on accompanied outings in 2003. The vast majority of these were from Loughan House (33) and Shelton Abbey (31). All of the 33 prisoners who absconded from Loughan House were still at large at the end of 2003.
There were nine deaths in custody in 2003 and inquest verdicts were outstanding for most of the cases. Initial reports indicated that two of the deaths appeared to be self-inflicted and three were suspected drug overdoses.
The report says that a number of attempted suicides were believed to have been prevented by prison staff.
The figures suggest that there are wide variations in services for the care and rehabilitation of prisoners. The proportion of prisoners who take part in daily education varies from 16 per cent in Portlaoise to 57 per cent in Fort Mitchel.
The report highlighted the small number of prisoners who had agreed to participate in a sex offenders' programme which was aimed at reducing the risk of reoffending. Only one group programme had been undertaken in 2003. This was described as a cause for concern and a matter which needed urgent attention.
The report says that the issue of homelessness among ex-prisoners is an ongoing problem. It points out that the Irish Prison Service is undertaking a number of initiatives aimed at dealing with this.
