Vol. 576 No. 3
126 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will publish guidelines for the handcuffing of just convicted prisoners exiting court; and if the public handcuffing is, in his view, solely for security purposes or a part of the punishment of the convicted person. [29612/03]
I am informed by the director general of the Prison Service that the Prison Service has a general rule that prisoners should be handcuffed when being removed from the court precincts. This rule obtains because of the high number of incidents involving prisoners, including injuries to staff and escape, when there was a lower usage of handcuffs in the past. Governors and prison staff, where this is considered appropriate, are allowed some discretion particularly in regard to women and aged or infirm prisoners who pose a low flight risk. The nature of the crime for which a prisoner is sentenced is not a factor in their treatment by prison staff.
The exercise of discretion can vary in the light of the different settings in which prisoners are tried, for example, the Four Courts complex is a difficult setting where hundreds of persons can be committed to custody on a particular day. For this reason, the Cloverhill escort party who service the Four Courts invariably handcuff all prisoners and there is a governor's order from the institution directing staff to take that approach. On the other hand a wider discretion is exercised by other prisons servicing smaller court venues where the number of prisoners and prevailing risk factors are considerably lower.
The director general of the Prison Service has advised me that prison staff are required to respect the dignity of all prisoners in their charge at all times. Moreover, prison rules explicitly require the authorities to avoid prisoners being photographed. The Prison Service does not endorse or encourage the "parading" of prisoners in a way which impinges on their personal dignity – regardless of their crimes or alleged crimes. Prisoners are brought to court early when possible to avoid exposure and underground exits and closed yards are used where they exist. However, despite the best efforts of staff, there are real and practical difficulties in removing prisoners from most of the older court precincts where there is no screened exit away from public view or photographers. There can be some distance to be travelled in terms of public access between the courtroom and the nearest parking space for the prison van which can be out on the public road.
The facilitation of less high visibility entrances and exits by prisoners before the courts will be considered by the Court Service in the design of any new court complexes.
I want to assure the Deputy that it is in no way part of the delivery of justice to seek to humiliate people who are or have been before the courts however serious their crimes or whatever vicarious satisfaction some people may derive from seeing them in handcuffs.
