andMr. Keating asked the Minister for Justice if a committee was established by his Department to investigate alternative treatments to that of imprisonment for offenders; if so, when; its composition; if it has yet reported to him; and if the report will be published.
Written Answers. - Imprisonment for Offenders.
251.
The answer to the first part of the Question is "no" and, therefore, the other parts do not arise.
The Deputies may be aware that I have already announced that I hope to be able to introduce a scheme under which the courts will be able to require offenders to do community work rather than go to prison. Moreover, I have already initiated the intensive supervision scheme, under which some persons are released from custody at a relatively early stage and are supervised closely by probation and welfare officers whose case-loads are kept very small so as to enable them to give a great deal of attention to each individual offender. Proposals for such schemes are discussed and analysed in the ordinary course of the work of my Department.