Over one in every seven prisoners are in jail for sex offences.
Figures from the Irish Prison Service show there were 3,067 people serving sentences in jail at the end of last month.
466, or 15 per cent, were behind bars for sex offences.
Former governor of Mountjoy Prison – Bansha native John Lonergan – says this figure has increased dramatically over the past 20 or 30 years.
“Sentences are getting longer for sexual related offences and that’s one of the main reasons that the percentage of the (prison) population is increasing all the time.
“Slightly over 80% of the sentenced prison population are serving two years or less – so you can see then if somebody is serving 8 or 10 or 15 years they’re in the system for quite a number of years and naturally then the percentage increases.”
