NI prison population lowest in the EU

A National Statistics survey of the Northern Irish prison population has found that the region has the lowest prison rate of the EU's 15 member countries.

The Research and Statistical Bulletin 8/2002, entitled 'The Northern Ireland Prison Population in 2001' and released by the Northern Ireland Office, showed that Northern Ireland and Finland had the lowest rates at rate of 50 prisoners per 100,000 population in 2001. Hungary was found to have the highest rate of imprisonment of European Union countries at 155 per 100,000 people.

In comparison to the rest of the British Isles, England and Wales held 125 and Scotland had 120 prisoners per 100,000. The Republic of Ireland, as of December 13 2001, was slightly ahead of its northern neighbour at 80.

The bulletin provides a statistical analysis on the size and composition of the prison population in Northern Ireland between 1992 and 2001. It describes the average population held and all receptions of prisoners into institutions during these years.

The total prison population had fallen by 44% in the last five years (1997-2001) from an average of 1,632 to 910. A major reason for this decrease, which also covers the period of the Good Friday Agreement prisoner releases, has been the fall in the immediate custody population, down from 1,226 in 1997 to 616 in 2001.

The total number of receptions into prison fell for the second consecutive year and a total of 4,416 prisoners were received during 2001 – 15% lower than in 2000.

The overall prison population is predominantly male (98% in 2001) and over half of those serving sentences of immediate custody (52%) are aged between 17 and 29 years of age.

In 2001, 63% of the immediate custody population had been convicted of violent offences, however, the proportion of sex offenders (16%) and drug offenders (10%) in prison the 2001 is higher than five years ago (9% and 8% respectively in 1997).

The report also found that the average prison population serving longer sentences, a term of over five years, has fallen in recent years and the life sentence population fell by approximately two thirds in the same period from 248 to 88.

(GMcG)