The Report shows that there were 17,318 committals to prison in 2011 which is an increase of 0.8% on the 2010 total of 17,179. Overall, 13,952 persons were sent to prison in 2011 compared to 13,758 in 2010, which represents an increase of 1.4%. Of those 86.4% were male and 13.6% were female.

Committals during 2011:
There was an increase of 503 or 4% in the numbers committed to prison under sentence in 2011 (12,990) over 2010 (12,487).

The number of prisoners committed serving sentences in the 3 to 5 years category increased by 12.4% on the 2010 figure (420 in 2010 to 472 in 2011). Committals under sentence of less than 3 months increased by almost 10% on the 2010 figure, i.e., from 7,356 to 8,070.

Persons detained under Immigration Laws
In 2011 there were 423 committals in respect of immigration issues involving 395 detainees. This represents a decrease of 13.9% on the 459 persons detained in 2010 and follows a decrease of 31.4% in this category the previous year. The average daily number of persons in custody under this category was 10.

Snapshot of prison population on 30th November 2011:
The total for the number of persons in custody has remained relatively unchanged with the 2011 figure (4,313) representing a decrease of just 2.9% on the comparable 2010 figure (4,440).

Some 291 prisoners (7.9%) were serving life sentences and another 290 (also 7.8%) were serving determinate sentences of 10 years or more.

43 offenders were serving sentences of less than 3 months representing 1.2% of the total number of prisoners in custody. There were 20 persons in prison for non-payment of fines which represents 0.5% of the total number of prisoners in custody.

Irish nationals accounted for 89.6% of the total number of persons in custody under sentence on the 30 November 2011.

Cost per Available, Staffed Prison Space:
The average cost of an available, staffed prison space during the calendar year 2011 was €65,359 (€70,513 in 2010), a decrease on the 2010 cost of €5,154 or 7.3%. This decrease in average cost results from reduced expenditure and an increase in the provision of bed capacity.

For information on drugs and prison policy see chapter 4 (page 30). Ongoing implementation of the Irish Prison Service Drugs Strategy – “Keeping Drugs Out of Prisons” -­ with continued focus on supply elimination and enhancement of currently available treatment options.