The Green Party has proposed a reduction in the number of prisoners and prison spaces in the Republic in the medium to long term under a series of reforms of the penal and criminal justice system.
The party yesterday launched a new crime and justice policy, which it said would give priority to tackling the underlying causes of crime, poverty and inequality.
Green Party TDs have also proposed a range of reforms for the prison system, which it said would reduce the number of repeat offenders in jail and prisoner numbers overall.
The proposals include reopening the Curragh prison to deal with overcrowding problems, but the party would scrap plans to relocate Mountjoy Prison to a larger new development in north Co Dublin.
Other proposals include the establishment of a review group to examine "alternatives to custody".
The party has also said it would abandon current Government proposals for anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos) in favour of enhancing existing programmes such as the Garda Juvenile Diversion programme, community policing and using children's legislation for restorative justice and sanctioning parents.
Reform of the Garda Síochána has also been proposed by the party, including setting up a dedicated organised crime agency, a new Garda authority and increased Garda numbers and civilianisation.
At the launch, Green Party leader Trevor Sargent denied the reduction in jail places or prisoners was the equivalent of "going soft" on crime and claimed that current Government policy was failing to deal with the problem as it did not address the underlying causes of crime.
He said there was a crisis in the prison system that needed to be addressed through reducing the number of prisoners who re-offended.
He said plans for a larger prison in north Co Dublin were "going to make more problems and further increase the prison population".
Green Party justice spokesman Ciarán Cuffe said that current Government policy "places much more interest in concrete than prison reform".