Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 June 2016
83. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if the women in prison strategy published in March 2014 has been unsuccessful (details supplied); her plans to address the level of overcrowding and the continual increase in the number of women being committed to prison each year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17017/16]
View answerThe Deputy will be aware that the Irish Prison Service must accept all persons committed by the courts and does not have the option of refusing committals.
I wish to advise the Deputy that the joint Probation Service/Irish Prison Service Women's Strategy 2014 - 2016, "An Effective Response to Women Who Offend" is ongoing and will be reviewed at the end of its term. The Women’s Strategy sets out how the Irish Prison Service and the Probation Service work together, as well as with other statutory, community and voluntary sector partners, to provide women-focused interventions to help reduce offending, improve opportunities for reintegration and to improve outcomes more generally.
As part of the Joint Strategy, the Irish Prison Service made a commitment to explore the development of an open centre/open conditions for women assessed as low risk of re-offending. This commitment was acknowledged in the Report on the Strategic Review of Penal Policy who also recommended that a greater focus on step down facilities, supported accommodation, use of more community based open conditions for female offenders and the provision of an open centre for women.
A joint Irish Prison Service/Probation Service working group considered an open centre for women and decided to recommend, rather than developing an open centre for women, that a more practical and cost effective way to address the deficit is to pursue step down facilities for women. In this regard, I have given approval to the Heads of the Irish Prison Service and Probation Service to proceed to scope the possibilities for the development of step down units for female offenders and female ex-offenders.
Alternatives to custody continue to be pursued and legislation has already been passed. This includes the Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) Act 2011 which requires the sentencing judge to consider the imposition of community service where a custodial sentence of 12 months or less is being considered.
Also the Fines (Payment and Recovery) Act 2014 provides that the Court imposing a fine shall take into account a person's financial circumstances. It further provides, inter alia, that where a person fails to pay a fine by the due date, the Court may make an attachment order to earnings as a means of recovering the unpaid fine. As a result of this legislation, it is expected that we will see a reduction in the number of committals to prisons on short sentences.
To address the female accommodation within the prison estate, planning is well under way for the modernisation and expansion of facilities in Limerick Prison. Part of this redevelopment includes the provision of high quality prison accommodation for female prisoners with a capacity of approximately 50 individual cells and 8 transition units which will more than double its current capacity.
