LIMERICK had one of the highest numbers of people per head of population sent to prison last year.
Figures from the Irish Prison Service (IPS), based on the home addresses of people who received custodial sentences in 2021, show that Limerick had 14.6 prisoners per 10,000 population.
With the latest census figures giving Limerick a population of 205,444, this indicates that 292 people who were sentenced to prison last year gave home addresses in Limerick City or County.
This compares to a national average of just over nine prisoners per 10,000 population..
Longford was the county with the highest number of people sent to prison with a committal rate of 16.1 per 10,000, while Donegal was the the lowest with 3.4 per 10,000. The rate for Dublin was 12.9 per 10,000 population.
The IPS figures also reveal the number of people sent to prison last year was the lowest in 15 years with committals to the country’s 12 prisons dropping by 1.6 per cent.
5,179 convicted criminals were jailed in 2021 – a reduction of 84 cases on 2020 and down from a peak of almost 14,200 in 2015.
The figures also show that 70 per cent of those sent to prison last year were given sentences of 12 months or less.
