More than half of prisoners re-offend within three years, according to new figures.
Inmates under 21 who were released in 2014 re-offended within three years nearly 80 per cent of the time.
But according to the Central Statistics Offence, only one third of those over 50 did so.
Former Mountjoy Prison governor – Bansha native John Lonergan – isn’t surprised by the new figures.
“It’s depressing to hear that figure I know but on the other side of it 50% didn’t.”
“The circumstances that people have often almost ensure that they re-offend in the sense that they often have very little to go out to no jobs, often no structure in their lives. Many of them have issues like addiction and mental illness. Many of them are unemployable.”
