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More than €3m paid to prisoners in 'pocket money' last year

The standard rate is €1.70 a day, but this rises to €2.20 for well-behaved prisoners
Eoghan Murphy
Eoghan Murphy

11.39 3 Mar 2022


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More than €3m paid to prisoner...

More than €3m paid to prisoners in 'pocket money' last year

Eoghan Murphy
Eoghan Murphy

11.39 3 Mar 2022


Share this article


The State paid prisoners over €3m in pocket money last year.

According to Freedom of Information figures, released to Newstalk, they also got nearly €5m in gifts from family and friends.

At the moment, there are just under 4,000 prisoners in 13 jails across the State.

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Every inmate receives a daily allowance from the Irish Prison Service, which they can spend in the tuck shop.

The standard rate is €1.70 a day, but this rises to €2.20 for well-behaved prisoners and is cuts to 95c for bad behaviour.

Inmates can get additional payments of up to €3.50 a week for working in areas like kitchens or laundries, or for painting.

Last year prisoners got a total of nearly €3.1m under these schemes.

Retired prison officer John Cuffe says the amounts are not too high.

"They are appropriate in my opinion - it's a token.

"Quite a lot of prisoners have actually no resources or money - so that few bob works out at about €10 a week.

"[It] allows them to buy a few luxuries - a few extras - to shorten the time, make the time a little bit better for themselves.

"It's not a lot, a child on pocket money would be getting far more than that - it's not going to make them or break them".

Last year prisoners got a further €4.9m in gifts from family and friends.

Just under €1m of that was given to inmates in the country's biggest jail: Midlands Prison in Portlaoise.

Main image: A man in prison in May 2012. Picture by: Gerrit de Heus / Alamy Stock Photo

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Freedom Of Information Irish Prison Service John Cuffe Midlands Prison Pocket Money Prisoners

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