Foreign nationals make up quarter of people jailed
22/12/2004 - 07:29:30One quarter of all people jailed in Ireland last year were born outside the country, according to the Prison Service’s latest annual report.
The report showed that non-nationals made up 2,500 of the 9,814 people sent to prison in 2003.
Almost 1,500 of these were detained under immigration laws and most would have been awaiting deportation.
Elsewhere, the Prison Service reported a 1% increase in the overall number of people jailed in 2003 compared to 2002.
The average number of prisoners on any one day was 3,176, an increase of 0.3% on the figures for 2002.
Men accounted for more than 89% of all committals, while almost 20% of all prisoners were under 21 years of age and 15% were over 50.
