The issue of whether prison does what it was designed to do has been popping up regularly in recent years. Does it work? Does it provide rehabilitation? Are we imprisoning too many for crimes that don’t merit such a penalty? 

Irish Examiner investigative reporter Ann Murphy has looked at one case of a man who has over 500 convictions and who has been in and out of the system for decades. She also examines the bigger questions in relation to penal policy in this country.