The new Fines Bill could help ensure the destitute make way for the dangerous in the prison system, writes Conor Lally, Crime Correspondent
Anybody who has reviewed recent research on Ireland's prison population can but come to one conclusion; it is mostly the wrong people who are ending up in jail.
The recent Study of the Number, Profile and Progression Routes of Homeless Persons Before the Court and in Custodyis a case in point.
It found one male prisoner in four was homeless on committal, rising to one in three in the female prison population. Ninety per cent of the prisoners homeless on committal were drug users.
One in three had been previously diagnosed with a mental illness.
A cycle of entrenched recidivism was identified in the report, with 59 per cent of homeless inmates stating they had been arrested at least 20 times in the five years before being sent to prison.
Some 78 per cent of those homeless on committal had spent more than two years in prison during their lives, with 54 per cent having spent five years or more in jail.
Despite these findings, the report's authors found the vast majority of homeless inmates - about 800 of Ireland's 3,200 inmates - were guilty of what they termed offences "not of a serious nature".
Many of this group - the drug-addicted, mentally ill, homeless - simply found themselves repeatedly arrested for minor public order offences.
With no hope of paying even small fines, they spent their lives in and out of jail.
The findings were such a damning indictment of our criminal justice system it was little wonder that the Probation and Welfare Service, which commissioned the report, never publicly launched it.
It decided instead to post it on a far-flung corner of its website and tell nobody it was there.
The long-awaited Fines Bill published yesterday by the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell is a welcome first step in addressing the appalling situation outlined in the report.
The Bill will, for the first time ever, give the courts the power to investigate a defendant's financial position before deciding on the appropriately sized fine to impose.
Complete discretion will be given to judges. They will now be able to take account of a defendant's homeless status and impose fines as low as €1, or even one cent, keeping the poor out of prison in the process.
Community-based sanctions - or even participation in rehabilitation courses - could be developed as alternatives to jail.
Crucially, the new legislation will also give defendants an option of paying a fine in instalments. It has the potential to prevent the committal to prison at present of about 1,800 people a year for the non-payment of fines.
Any measures that prevent the jailing of the poor for reasons of poverty should be welcomed.
However, the new provisions bring another windfall for the State in the shape of freeing up of prison spaces in a system already bursting at the seams.
The drugs trade has reached record proportions and is now valued at €1 billion annually.
Homicide reached record levels last year. Gun crime and related gangland activities continue to flourish.
If Irish organised crime was floated on the stock exchange, practically the whole country could have retired on the dividends paid out since the start of this decade.
At the same time, the Government is desperate for us to believe it is being tough on crime.
Mr McDowell has informed the Parole Board that it should not free violent offenders until they had served very lengthy sentences.
He sees no difficulty with life sentences equating to terms of a minimum 14 to 16 years.
He is drawing up a legislative package which will apparently restrict the judges' discretion on mandatory sentencing for drug dealing. It is also envisaged gang members will be denied bail more often.
A range of new anti-racketeering provisions are also being drawn up designed to make it easier to secure longer sentences for those whose activities and convictions suggest involvement in organised crime.
Late last year a strict regime of mandatory sentences was introduced for firearms offences.
Already the number of life prisoners in the system has doubled to 220 in the last 15 years.
Additional prison spaces will be badly needed to cope with the further increases expected before the new Mountjoy Prison opens in four or five years.
The new and mooted range of measures aimed at gangland crime, coupled with the Fines Bill published yesterday, should in the long term ensure that as the destitute leave prisons, the cells they vacate are filled with the dangerous.