Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 27 Nov 2002

Vol. 558 No. 2

Written Answers. - Prison Monitoring.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

222 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the Government's policy on allowing human rights monitoring groups, such as Amnesty International, access to Irish prisons for the purposes of monitoring compliance with human rights protections and obligations and to conduct research; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24060/02]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

223 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the Government's policy on allowing the Irish Penal Reform Trust access to Irish prisons for the purposes of monitoring compliance with human rights protections and obligations and to conduct research; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24061/02]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell):

I propose to take Questions Nos. 222 and 223 together.

The fact that Amnesty International and the IPRT were not facilitated recently with a proposed racism project, which was a decision taken entirely on its own merits, has no implication for either organisation in their being afforded access to prisons. I reject any suggestion that the decision in this case amounts to exclusion of either organisation from any future research or other project involving prisoners.

The IPRT has been facilitated in the recent past in conducting research in prisons on the use of segregation cells which involved access to prisoners, prison staff and prison records.

At the suggestion of the Prisons Authority Interim Board, all applications for access to prisoners for research purposes are now being processed by a prisoner based research ethics committee which is chaired by Professor Patricia Casey. The role of the committee is to promote, encourage, support and disseminate ethically based and appropriate research within the prison service. The committee vets all such applications from the point of view of scientific merit and protection of the human rights of prisoners including privacy and personal dignity. There is no restriction placed on the IPRT or Amnesty International forwarding future research proposals to this committee.

There is very considerable accountability and independent scrutiny in place in the prison system. The Honourable Mr. Justice Dermot Kinlen was appointed an inspector of prisons and places of detention on an administrative basis in April. His terms of reference are as follows: to inspect and report, as the inspector considers appropriate, to my Department on prisons and other places of detention managed on behalf of my Department by the Irish Prison Service; to report on conditions in those institutions and on the regimes in place for prisoners and detainees; to investigate and report on specific issues referred to the inspectorate by the Minister; and to submit to the Minister an annual report on the activities of the inspectorate.

The prison system is also subject to periodic inspection andad hoc visits by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment which operates under the aegis of the Council of Europe. It is composed of lawyers, medical doctors, prison experts and parliamentarians from member states. During these visits it has the right of unimpeded access at any time of the day or night to any place where persons are detained, whether it be a prison, a Garda station or a mental hospital. The committee members are entitled to speak in private to any detained person. The committee made its third periodic visit to Ireland from 20 to 28 May and its report on the visit is expected shortly.

A visiting committee is appointed to each prison under the Prisons (Visiting Committees) Act, 1925, and Prisons (Visiting Committees) Order, 1925. Their function is to visit, at frequent intervals, the prison which they are appointed to and hear any complaints which may be made to them by any prisoner. They report to me any abuses observed or found by them in the prison and any repairs which they think may be urgently needed. Visiting committees have free access either collectively or individually to every part of their prison. In inspecting prisons they focus on issues such as quality of accommodation, catering, medical, educational and welfare services and recreational facilities. They also submit annual reports to me which are subsequently published.