PRISONERS SUNDAY - 11TH OCTOBER 2026

Bishop Martin Hayes

This Sunday, 11 October 2026, is known as Prisoners’ Sunday, and Bishop Martin Hayes, Bishop of Kilmore, who serves as the Bishops’ Conference’s liaison with the Irish Prison Service, has published the following reflection to mark this significant date for prisoners and their families.

Bishop Hayes said, “As of 9 July 2026, almost a tenth of prisoners in the Republic of Ireland amounted to, “520 prisoners were sleeping on mattresses on the floor in overcrowded cells next to unpartitioned toilets ...”

“While we must always keep in mind the victims of crime we, on this Prisoners’ Sunday, must be alert to the living conditions of prisoners.  In order to have any hope of rehabilitation, prisoners need to have their basic human rights respected.  While every effort is being made by the Irish Prison Service to provide care for prisoners, the basic problem is that there is not enough space to accommodate all prisoners.  We are called to do more by way of developing alternative forms of rehabilitation and / or build more prison space.

“In Sunday’s Gospel parable, Jesus illustrates the persistent reaching out in love of God to us with the call to us to do the same for others.  The responses to the invitation by the king in the Gospel ranged from disinterest and indifference to anger and violence.  We may well have the same responses to prisoners arising from our view that they deserve their punishment.  We note in the Gospel parable, that the king persisted in inviting people to the banquet and that eventually, ‘the hall was full of guests, bad and good alike’.  It’s an illustration of how God reaches out to everyone, wanting the very best for each person.

“Our prayer on this Prisoners’ Sunday is that we reach out to our prisoners, recognising the good and the bad in each other; the good that inspires and the bad that can be redeemed with the communication of God’s persistent love. 

May we respond to God’s constant love by ensuring that we give prisoners the respect they are due and the chances of rehabilitation that they deserve.”