Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 12 Apr 2001

Vol. 534 No. 5

Written Answers - Prisoner Releases.

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

192 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the procedures followed in regard to requests for unsupervised day or other release from prison; if these procedures are adhered to in all cases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11220/01]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue):

All prisoners have the opportunity to make requests for temporary release through their prison governor. Decisions on temporary release applications and the general management of prison sentences are made either by myself or by senior officials from the prisons division of my Department. In addition, the sentence review group advises me in relation to the administration of the sentences of long-term prisoners.

Review meetings are held on a regular basis in each institution to facilitate the exchange of information and aid decision making. Each meeting is chaired by the governor with the attendance of senior prison management, probation and welfare staff, chaplains, teachers, other prison staff and an official from the prisons division of my Department.

Before granting temporary release careful consideration is given in each individual case to a number of factors including the nature and seriousness of the offence, previous record, behaviour in custody, length of sentence served and any compassionate grounds which merit special consideration. The primary concern in considering whether to grant temporary release is the safety of the public. It is important to note that decisions are only made following consultations with the Garda and local prison officials. Other matters considered are whether the pris oner has engaged constructively with the various prison based therapeutic services such as the Probation and Welfare Service, educational and work training programmes, and/or drug treatment programmes.

In the majority of cases, temporary release is granted for constructive and rehabilitative reasons. For example, a prisoner may be released to attend educational and/or training programmes or courses. Another reason is to participate in work training with recognised agencies such as CERT or PACE. The aim of this form of temporary release is to help the prisoner with employment prospects on the outside which will have the effect of reducing the risk of reoffending. In addition, short periods of temporary release to visit family members may be granted to prisoners in an effort to reduce the effects of institutionalisation and to aid familiarisation with the outside world.

It should be noted that in the past a persistent high level of overcrowding in the committal institutions in the Dublin area – Mountjoy Prison and St Patrick's Institution – resulted in the granting of release in an unstructured manner to many offenders at an early stage in their sentences. As a direct result of my prisons building programme, there has been a significant reduction in the number of prisoners on temporary release from a daily average of 463 in September 1997 to around 200 at present.

We now have a situation where for the first time in 25 years we can accommodate almost all those sentenced by the courts for the full duration of their sentences and that the vast majority of prisoners on temporary release are following a structured programme as part of their rehabilitation. I qualify this statement only by reference to the female prison population where we currently have higher than anticipated committal numbers and for whom extra spaces will be provided shortly.