The Director General of prisons stated recently that the prison population stood at 13,937 (15th Nov) compared with the official maximum of 12,600 places.

Of these 84.2% had been convicted and serving sentences, whereas the remainder were on remand pending trial. The Director General added that the figure had stabalised recently under the 14,000 mark.

Comment

At the 31st December 2015, the figure stood at 14,222 including 2303 under remand.