Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 30 Mar 1993

Vol. 428 No. 5

Written Answers. - Cork Prison Capacity.

Bernard Allen

Question:

20 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Justice the reason that the capacity of Cork Prison has been reduced; and if she will make a statement on the recent release of prisoners from Cork Prison due to a change in the guidelines issued from her Department; and if she has considered the impact this change would have on the crime situation in Cork city and county.

Minister for Justice (Mrs. Geoghegan-Quinn)

I think it is perhaps right that I should begin by explaining that temporary release which may be granted by the Minister for Justice under the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act, 1960 is subject in all cases to certain conditions. In the first place before the Minister grants temporary release she or he will have regard to certain factors including the nature of the offence, the length of sentence, the length of time served, behaviour while in custody and, above all, the safety of the public. Release will not be granted in any case where the expert advice available to the Minister is to the effect that it would constitute a serious threat to the public.

If temporary release — sometimes referred to as "early release"— is actually granted it is always subject to conditions. In all cases there is the condition that the person released must continue to be of good behaviour and other conditions may also be applied for example that the individual concerned would be subject to supervision by the Probation and Welfare Service, that he or she should report at regular intervals to a Garda Station etc. Temporary release automatically ends if any of these conditions are breached and the individual concerned can be immediately returned to custody without warrant or without any court proceedings. These temporary release arrangements are in effect our system of parole which is a feature of prison systems worldwide and is regarded as an element of positive sentence management.

It is obviously desirable, as a matter of policy that there should be as much consistency as possible within the sentence management system — for example that an offender in one institution whose offence, behaviour, sentence, etc. are comparable to those of an offender in another institution should stand an equal chance of benefiting from temporary release provisions. A review of the situation within my Department suggested that offenders in Cork were not faring as well as others in this regard. One result of this was that there was extensive overcrowding within the institution. The judgment following a review of the situation was that a significant reduction in numbers was warranted — in fact from 253 to 225. Even at a figure of 225 there would continue to be a substantial level of doubling-up in single cells within the institution but it will nevertheless produce marked improvement and should allow for a much better level of service to be provided to the prisoners that remain.