Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 February 2012
75 Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding the proposal for the Irish Prison Service to examine options for the development of prisoner welfare and resettlement functions generally; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6525/12]
View answerI can advise the Deputy that the Irish Prison Service is in the process of drafting a new Strategic Plan for 2012-2014 which will be presented to me, by the Director General, in the first week of April. The development of prisoner welfare and resettlement functions will form a central part of this Strategy, and will be considered by me in due course. In the meantime, the Irish Prison Service provides a range of rehabilitative programmes which have the dual purpose of providing prisoners with purposeful activity while serving their sentences and encouraging and equipping them to lead productive lives on release. Several programmes and services have a specific post-release focus. These include the Gate Service operated by Business in the Community Ireland (BITC) which provides a training, education, and employment placement programme for prisoners and ex-prisoners, and operates in seven of the country's fourteen institutions. The BITC Linkage Programme provides a similar service in the remaining institutions and operates in partnership with the Probation Service.
The BITC Mentoring Service which is jointly funded by the Prison Service and Dormant Accounts Funding is in place in Castlerea, Cork and the Training Unit. Mentoring has been shown internationally to have a positive impact on the resettlement and desistance of ex-prisoners. Focus Ireland operates a pilot homeless service in Cloverhill Prison which supports remand prisoners in accessing appropriate services and accommodation on the pathway to independent living. The project is supported by the Irish Prison Service, the Probation Service and the Health Service Executive (HSE). Homelessness support services are also provided in Cork and Limerick prisons.
A weekly clinic service is provided in ten prisons by the HSE Community Welfare Service through the Homeless Persons Unit (HPU). Referrals generally are at the pre-release stage and Community Welfare Officers provide information and clinic services, and arrange emergency and other accommodation options, supplementary benefits and fast tracked medical cards. The Prison Education Centres provide pre-release and post-release programmes aimed at assisting prisoner resettlement. Prisoner resettlement is also an objective of the Prison Service's integrated sentence management system and focuses on the prisoner's resettlement from the moment of committal to release. The Probation Service also works with prisoners assisting in coping with imprisonment, maintaining contact with family and dealing with areas of difficulty such as addiction. Probation Officers work with prison based teams to help offenders manage their sentence and to resettle back into the community without committing crime.
