asked the Minister for Justice whether, with reference to the provision in Rule 43 (1) of the prisons' regulations which requires that work done by a prisoner should enable him to earn his living on release, he will state in reference to a group of prisoners (details supplied) what kind of work they were engaged in and how this was seen to comply with the requirement mentioned.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Prison Work.
50.
For a variety of reasons, including the shortness of the period of imprisonment being served by most prisoners and the capacity and educational standard of some prisoners, it is desirable, in order to provide some form of occupation for some hours a day, to have a programme of routine work in most prisons. The work in question here, namely, the preparation of carrots for preservation by bottling, was in this category but, for reasons outside the control of the prison administration, it has in fact been discontinued. It is, of course, work of a level which many persons who have never been in conflict with the law are normally engaged in.