Pádraig Mac Lochlainn
Question:9. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the commitments she has given to the Prison Officers Association to ensure the safety of its members. [13283/15]
View answerThursday, 2 April 2015
Questions (9)
Oral answers (6 contributions)
This question relates to the concerns of the Prison Officers Association. I know the Minister has engaged with the association. I would like to get an update on that engagement. Are the concerns of the association being addressed?
Obviously, the primary role of the Irish Prison Service is to provide safe and secure custody for prisoners. The Deputy will be aware that I take the health and safety of Irish Prison Service staff very seriously, just as he does. I have met the representative association and the head of the Irish Prison Service. I have been assured by the director general of the Irish Prison Service that every action is taken by the service to ensure, as far as possible, the safety of all prison staff. That is clearly and absolutely a critical consideration. The director general has assured me that every violent assault is treated as a serious incident, as indeed it should be.
The Deputy will be aware that a serious incident occurred recently when a prisoner assaulted two prison staff while on an escort to Tallaght hospital for medical treatment. In light of this incident, the Irish Prison Service has established a focus group on hospital escorts and procedures, which is being chaired by the director of operations. The focus group is looking at this issue in detail. The purpose of the group is to review the conduct of hospital escorts and to make recommendations to the director general in order that we can have absolute safety.
This was a very unusual event. However rare an event of this seriousness is, we must have all the procedures in place. The Prison Service control and restraint advisory group was also convened following the incident to consider several issues including personal protective equipment, defensive equipment, training and communications. Proposals have been identified regarding the requirements for prison escorts. The group’s short, interim and long-term recommendations were accepted by the Prison Service’s director general. The prison officer national executive sits on the advisory group and contributes to its work. At a meeting which I chaired between the representatives of the prison officers and the governor, it was agreed that any protective equipment, for example, that was needed would be issued.
One of the main concerns is that 60% of requests for armed escorts from the Prison Service were turned down by An Garda Síochána, meaning out of 166 requests for armed escorts for inmates being transported outside of prisons, 97 were rejected. There is a concern that this may reflect resource limitations. Are there grounds for bringing together the Garda Commissioner and the head of the Prison Service to address these issues? I accept some of these rejections may well be legitimate. Are they purely made on a security basis or do they reflect resources use?
Prison management may make a request for an armed escort based on a risk assessment of a prisoner who is due to be escorted outside the prison. It is sent to the operations directive and then forwarded to An Garda Síochána where it is given careful consideration to determine if the escort is to be granted. Armed escorts are requested for prisoners who pose the highest security risk or escape risk. Criminal gang leaders, subversive prisoners and prisoners requiring an armed escort have a flag enabled on their record on the prison information management system.
Despite the fact a prisoner may be flagged for an armed escort, this does not mean one will be granted by the Garda. While there are certain high-security prisoners who could not be escorted outside prison without the presence of an armed escort, there are others whose escort would proceed, despite the fact that an armed escort request was refused. In these cases, a careful risk assessment would be carried out.
It is not a question of resources but is based on the risk assessment. Where the Garda considers there should be an armed escort, it will be made available.
In the case of Derek Brockwell, something went wrong. There needs to be a review of the circumstances of this prisoner’s escape. This was a prisoner with a violent history who unfortunately proved to be a threat. That case alone shines a spotlight on the need to review the criteria between An Garda Síochána and the Prison Service. Will this happen?
The Prison Officers Association asked for anti-stab vests, incapacitant sprays and extendable batons to be made available to them during prisoner transfers. Will these be made available in future?
The director general of the Prison Service has established an implementation group, chaired by the governor of the Prison Service escort corps, to implement several actions including the purchase of personal protection equipment, provision of training and the identification of high-risk escorts. The transportation of high-risk escorts is to be reviewed and improved lines of communication are to be set up. In addition to these measures, several trials in the use and application of new equipment are to be undertaken.
The recent incident involving a prisoner has triggered a review in several areas. My understanding is that the Prison Officers Association and prisons management are getting on with an implementation plan in which all are involved.