On Ireland's most cutting edge current affairs show, Matt and his guests provide a running stream of intelligent opinions and heated debates on the issues that matter most to Irish listeners. You might not always agree, but you'll never want to miss a Word.
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The Last Word with Matt Cooper
In the first part of a new series on the country's prisons, we looked at what kind of people are going to prison and why. There are currently over 4,000 people in prison custody in Ireland, with the rate of imprisonment roughly 82 per 100,000 of the population. The average number of women in custody is 165. Last year the average cost of available staffed prison space was just over €73,000, and the cost of detaining a child is €340,000. Why do people turn to a life of crime, and what can be done to prevent this from happening? We were joined by Andy Bray, Regional Manager with Le Chéile mentoring, Gary Gannon, Social Democrats Councillor for Dublin City Council, and Roe McDermott, Irish Times and Hot Press journalist, to discuss this. Listen to the interview in full by pressing the play button on this page.