THE NUMBER of people sent to prison for failing to pay fines or debts jumped by almost 90 per cent last year.

The figures increased from 1,335 in 2007 to 2,520 in 2008, most likely driven by the recession and rising unemployment.

Overall, the Irish Prison Service’s annual report for 2008 shows the number of people being sent to jail is rising. There were 13,600 prisoners on remand (a 14 per cent increase) and 8,000 under sentence (a 25 per cent increase) over the past year.

In a statement, the service said this was “attributable to the increasing success of An Garda Síochána in prosecuting criminals and extra court sittings which have resulted in higher committal rates”.

Most prisons in the State were operating at or near total capacity during last year. Mountjoy, Castlerea, Cloverhill, Cork, Limerick women’s prison and Wheatfield were all operating above capacity.

To cope with the growing numbers, prison authorities say an additional 400 spaces will come on stream this year.

There were a total of 759 incidents of violence involving prisoners during 2008, amounting to about two incidents a day among a population of about 3,500 inmates.

While commentators say violent incidents are linked to chronic overcrowding, the report notes the number of assaults is “comparatively low” in the context of the volume and profile of prisoners in custody.

“No regime can completely eliminate the possibility of violent incidents happening in a prisons setting where we are holding a large number of dangerous and violent offenders,” the report adds.

It also shows that some 20 per cent of the entire prison population, or 832 prisoners, was segregated for its own protection by December 5th, 2008.

The report states: “The majority of prisoners who seek to go on protection do so not because they fear random acts of violence in prison, but rather because of issues which accrued on the outside .”

In extreme cases, it states a prisoner on protection may be on “23-hour lock-up”.

But mostly prisoners are accommodated in communal settings with other vulnerable prisoners. An apparent decline in immigration was also reflected in the number of people detained under the State’s immigration laws. There were just over 1,000 committals last year, a 16 per cent drop on the previous year’s figures.

The average cost of a prison place was €92,000, up from €85,000 the year previously.

This was due mainly to increases in salaries, the annual report notes. Sick leave is still a thorny issue among staff, with prison staff taking an average of 20 days leave last year. This is down from 22 days last year.

On foot of tougher security measures, some 2,047 mobile phones were seized from prisoners last year. Prison authorities are also piloting new mobile phone jamming equipment which they intend to extend across the prison service.

Serious crimes appear to be on the increase, given the rise in numbers serving long sentences.

The number of prisoners serving sentences of 10 years or more increased by almost 40 per cent, driven mainly by drug-related offences. Committals for road traffic offences also jumped dramatically (44 per cent).

A recurring difficulty in recent years has been providing appropriate treatment to acutely mentally ill prisoners, the report notes.

A lack of capacity at the Central Mental Hospital for prisoners resulted in a waiting list of about 15 prisoners each week in the second half of last year.

Since health authorities agreed to open an additional 10 beds at the hospital in November 2008, the report states that much progress has been made in tackling waiting lists.