I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time. This Bill contains a number of amendments of the present law relating to the treatment of offenders, which experience has shown to be desirable and appropriate to our particular conditions. As such it will, I trust, commend itself to the House.
Before dealing with the particular provisions of the Bill, I should like to refer briefly to the present state of the law, to the main changes which have taken place in prisons and prison conditions here since the foundation of the State, and to various reforms which have been adopted or are planned in neighbouring countries and whose applicability to Irish conditions has been considered.
The statutory provisions governing prisons and prisoners are scattered over a large number of pre-1922 Acts. They go back to 1826. Many of them have fallen into disuse. For example, apart from certain legal consequences of a fairly limited kind, there is now no difference in the actual serving of a sentence of imprisonment, a sentence of imprisonment with hard labour or a sentence of penal servitude. All prisoners convicted of criminal offences receive the same kind of treatment. The statutory classification of offenders into first, second and third divisions is no longer of practical significance as no sentences of imprisonment in the first or second division have been imposed for many years. It would be desirable to eliminate all this "dead wood" in the statutes and to have the essentials of the law contained in a single comprehensive measure. The preparation of such a measure would, however, be a long and tedious task and I hope that at some time in the future it will be possible to undertake it when other legislative proposals of a priority character have been disposed of.
Although no substantial modifications in the statutory code for the treatment of offenders have taken place since the establishment of the State, a number of improvements in prison conditions have been effected by administrative action. Prisoners receive more substantial meals of better quality, have more time in association, are allowed more books and periodicals, letters and visits, and are permitted cigarettes or tobacco at particular times of the day. In Portlaoise Prison, where long-term prisoners are housed, the cigarettes and tobacco are supplied at State expense. I think I should say that the views of the prison governors are that the amelioration of prison conditions which has been brought about gradually in the past 40 years has not resulted in any disregard of discipline. In fact, I am told that discipline has been more easily maintained since prisoners have been allowed to smoke, the threat of a withdrawal of the privilege being a more effective sanction than the old-time imposition of a bread and water diet.
As is well known, too, no doubt, the prison garb of former days has been changed for the better and it is the practice, in the generality of cases, to allow prisoners to wear their own clothes. Corporal punishment for breaches of prison discipline had not been imposed for over 20 years before it was formally abolished by the Rules for the Government of Prisons made in 1947. These rules also increased the remission for good conduct and industry of ordinary prisoners from one-sixth to one-fourth.
It is in regard to young offenders that the most encouraging progress has been made. In 1956, the Borstal Institution in Clonmel was transferred to Dublin as the number of youths committed by the Courts for Borstal training was too small to enable the institution to function satisfactorily. Since the transfer to Dublin virtually all youths under 21 years of age who have been committed to Mountjoy to serve sentences of imprisonment have been transferred forthwith to the institution next door now known as St. Patrick's and the character of the institution has, to a considerable extent, changed from being a Borstal institution to a place for the detention of young offenders, most of whom have been sentenced to comparatively short terms of imprisonment.
Having regard to the preponderance of offenders serving short sentences, prolonged training in the accepted sense is impracticable for most inmates of St. Patrick's and for them the institution must remain primarily a place of detention. Yet even for these "short-terms" a period spent in St. Patrick's can contribute to their betterment and this is because the spiritual training of the Catholic youths, who constitute virtually all the inmates, has been in the hands of a full-time Chaplain since the institution was transferred from Clonmel. There is also a part-time Church of Ireland chaplain.
The activities of the inmates are arranged so that they are kept usefully occupied throughout the day. They are given instruction in the assembly of motor-cars and cycles, in tailoring, shoe repairing, carpentry and they are employed in wood-cutting and in the maintenance and repair of the buildings. As regards recreation, facilities are provided for football, boxing and other indoor games. Football matches are arranged from time to time and boxing tournaments are regularly held during the winter months. Films of entertainment and educational or religious interest are shown during the winter season and lectures are given by interested outsiders. A library and reading room are available, though the educational standard of most of the inmates is regrettably low.
The institution is most fortunate in having available to it the services of a visiting committee about whose zeal and whose interest in the welfare of the inmates I cannot speak too highly. They have been most assiduous in looking after the inmates' interests, in providing useful entertainments and in persuading employers to take suitable inmates on discharge. Here I may say that one of the greatest obstacles in the way of rehabilitating offenders is that it is so difficult for them to obtain employment. This is not surprising as employers naturally prefer to engage youths with unblemished records but some employers have been helpful in this respect and have co-operated in the appeal made to them by the visiting committee. I take this opportunity of thanking them publicly for their co-operation.
I must also say a word about the after-care of youths discharged from the institution. This work is in the hands of the St. Patrick's Welfare Association. Members of the Association pay regular weekly visits to the inmates to become acquainted with them and with their problems. On their discharge the members visit their homes and keep in touch with them as best they can, finding employment for them whenever possible. The material needs of the youths on discharge are taken care of by the Guild of St. Philip. Both of these after-care organisations receive subventions from the State.
While there has been some criticism of the fact that St. Patrick's is sited in close proximity to Mountjoy male and female prisons, I do not think that there is much substance in the criticism. St. Patrick's is separate and distinct from Mountjoy and it has an atmosphere of its own. While I should like to see, some day, an entirely new institution in semi-rural surroundings, the cost would run well into six figures and, until I see my way clearly, I would not be prepared to ask the Government for the money. I am not against change if change would serve a sufficiently useful purpose but in prison administration there is constant pressure from well-intentioned persons to do this or that for the sake of change itself, without advertence to the cost.
These are some of the modifications that have taken place in the prison system. What are the possibilities of introducing further and large-scale reforms? Any consideration of this question must take into account the smallness of our prison population— inclusive of all classes, whether prisoners on remand, awaiting trial, debtors and contempt of court prisoners and those under sentences, the average is about 400 — the fact that there are now only four prisons for the detention of offenders, the high proportion of short-term sentences— 60 per cent. of the sentences are for periods of under three months — and the expense of providing additional institutions in relation to the use likely to be made of them and the other demands on our resources. These factors combine to make it impracticable to carry out classification and segregation of prisoners to any great extent. In particular, it is impossible to provide any really useful training for offenders sentenced to terms of less than three months. These are the realities of the situation.
