These areas include issues of overcrowding, the mental health issues that exist among many of our prisoners and the rehabilitation programs that should be implemented in prisons. I will then try to highlight the advantages of choosing a non-custodial sentence rather than a prison sentence and how the government is currently choosing to legislate on the issue instead of attempting to bring proceedings, such as early intervention, and avoiding tackling the problem. The problems mentioned above have only led members of society to undermine our penal system. The mission of the Irish Prison Service is to “provide safe, secure and humane custody to people sent to prison.” The Service is committed to managing custodial sentences in a way that encourages and supports prisoners in their efforts to live law-abiding and useful lives as valued members of society” (Thornton Hall Review Group, 2011) . However, the following areas will show how the IPS has repeatedly contradicted its mission statement. Assessing the problems The Irish prison system is increasingly under pressure due to the limited space available. According to the Jesuit Center report, overpopulation is considered the most important indicator of the inadequacy of our prison policies (Jesuit Center for Faith and Justice, 2012). This has led to an increase in the number of prisoners being released temporarily, putting vulnerable members of society at risk. Overcrowding reduces the time and ability of prison staff to work effectively with inmates. Overcrowding can lead to a breach of the Irish Prison Service's ability to keep people in custody...... middle of paper ...... in the rehabilitation programs offered in prisons. These programs are intentionally designed to help all inmates identify and restore the reasons they ended up in prison and at the same time prepare them for re-entry into society (Thornton Hall Review Group, 2011, p. 51). The Council of Europe, in its Recommendation on the management of prison administrations, suggested that prison sentences should contribute to the progress of the prisoner and that the prisoner should believe that he has a promising future after his release from prison . One way to solve this problem is to include inmates in their prison programs. According to the Irish prison system, they have the capacity to provide vocational training opportunities to around 100,000 people. 24% of the current prison population, but only 17% of these positions are filled.