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Prison Staff

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 May 2013

Thursday, 30 May 2013

Questions (211)

Ciaran Lynch

Question:

211. Deputy Ciarán Lynch asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of officers that have been made available to integrated sentence management in each prison; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26435/13]

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Written answers

The Irish Prison Service is implementing an Integrated Sentence Management (ISM) initiative within the prison system. ISM involves a new orientation in the delivery of services to prisoners and an emphasis on prisoners taking greater personal responsibility for their own development through active engagement with both specialist and non-specialist services in the prisons. The end result is a prisoner-centred, multidisciplinary approach to working with prisoners with provision for initial assessment, goal setting and periodic review to measure progress.

Over 1,000 new prisoners participated in ISM in 2012. At the end of April this year there were over 2,300 current and active cases and over a thousand prisoners had sentence plans in place at that time.

Currently 16 ISM Co-ordinators are in place in 10 institutions as set out in the table underneath. The staff concerned are made up of redeployments and others who are functioning on an acting basis into the roles. It is envisaged that, through further redeployments and a forthcoming internal competition, full time ISM Co-ordinators will be assigned to all prisons in the coming months. Having a dedicated team of ISM Co-ordinators in all prisons will enhance the effectiveness of the sentence management system and facilitate the growing numbers of prisoners participating in the process. A complement of over 20 ISM Co-ordinator posts have been identified to date, through the Transformation process, to provide vital coordination and support for the initiative at prison level.

Institution

No.

Arbour Hill

1

Castlerea

2

Cloverhill

2

Dochas

2

Loughan House

1

Portlaoise

1

Midlands

2

Mountjoy

2

Training Unit

1

Wheatfield

2

Total

16

Question No. 212 answered with Question No. 210.

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