The management of the sentences of the person to whom the Deputy refers was the subject of a report by Mr. John Olden, the retired former runaí at Roinn na Gaeltachta. Mr. Olden's report was laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas on 6 July 2001. It set out in great detail the manner in which the offender was considered for release including the process of rehabilitation prior to his reintegration back to society. Mr Olden noted that he received full co-operation with his inquiries.
This man was sentenced to life imprisonment on 22 February 1982. He was released to reside in the community on temporary release in March 1995 under the supervision of the probation and welfare service. His release followed a recommendation made by the Sentence Review Group in November 1991. The Sentence Review Group had been established in December 1989 to advise the Minister for Justice on the management of the sentences of long-term and life sentenced prisoners. The group met the prisoner and reviewed reports from the various services dealing with him in a therapeutic manner during his sentence. These services included the probation and welfare service, visiting psychiatric services, the prison psychology service, education and training services and prison management. The Garda also provided reports for the group's consideration.
A gradually progressing programme of releases was put in place for this man during the period between 1991 and 1995. This began with accompanied releases of a few hours duration and progressed through unaccompanied releases in the care of his family, to unaccompanied overnight releases. This programme was managed by officials of the prisons division of the Department, along with the prison management and the probation and welfare service. He was returned to prison in September 1996 having breached conditions of his release. He was again released in April 1997 having undergone further work with the probation and welfare service and having again been granted a progressive programme of temporary releases prior to his full release. He was returned to custody again on 31 July 1998 in view of further charges brought against him which were deemed to have breached his conditions of release. He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to six months imprisonment for indecent exposure on 7 September 1998. He was not considered for further temporary release until that sentence had been completed.
In the meantime he again undertook extensive work with the probation and welfare service in prison. He was granted accompanied temporary release for humanitarian reasons due to serious illness in his family in late January 1999. A programme of releases was then put in place as part of the process of attempting to reintegrate him back to the community. This programme was monitored, as normal by a review committee made up of prison headquarters officials, prison management and prison therapeutic services. The concerns of the local community were sought through the probation and welfare service and the Garda.
The offender began a series of unaccompanied temporary releases, one day per week, in the care of his father in October 1999. Mr. Olden noted a discrepancy in the record of what had or had not been decided in relation to the progression of these releases. I instructed the Director General of the Prisons Service to investigate this matter further and he reported that he had not been able to reconcile the accounts of the officials concerned. Both Mr. Olden and the Director General have said that this system failure was disturbing but that they both believe the offender would have been granted such a programme of releases on the basis of the information then available about him even if the proper procedures had been followed.
The Olden report and the observations of the Director General which accompanied Mr. Olden's report make it clear that at no stage was this case referred to me for decision or information. This was in line with the prevailing practice where an offender had previously been the recipient of the entire range of temporary releases, that is: escorted in handcuffs with a prison officer; accompanied by an officer, unrestrained; accompanied by either a chaplain, probation and welfare officer or approved person; and unaccompanied temporary release. It was also the practice that where a person serving a long-term sentence was returned to prison, due to a breach of conditions or conviction for an offence attracting a short sentence, that the management of his sentence including decisions on temporary release, would be continued by officials of the Prisons Service at headquarters level. This would be done in consultation with local prison management and the prison therapeutic services, without further reference back to the Minister or to the Sentence Review Group. Temporary release would only be granted after an appropriate interval in which the offender had completed the new sentence, if any, and undergone rehabilitative therapeutic work with the appropriate services within the prison.
