Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 April 2022
596. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Justice if she will request the Irish Prison Service to carry out a review of all mental health supports available to persons in prison with a view to identifying the areas in which increased resourcing is needed. [17577/22]
View answerAddressing the mental health challenges of those interacting with the Criminal Justice System is a major challenge and while there are no easy fixes, the Government is determined to make sure that the right help and support is available for those who need it.
As the Deputy may be aware, considerable progress has been made on the Programme for Government commitment to consider the mental health and addiction challenges of those imprisoned, and primary care support on release.
Last April, I, together with the Minister for Health and Ministers of State Frank Feighan and Mary Butler, established a High Level Taskforce to consider the mental health and addiction challenges of persons interacting with the criminal justice system. The Taskforce is independently chaired by former Minister of State Kathleen Lynch.
The Taskforce already had nine plenary meetings and has established three subgroups on diversion, capacity issues in the Prison Service and National Forensic Mental Health Services, and community issues, including care after release.
Each of the subgroups comprises of relevant experts, chaired by high ranking officials from the criminal justice sector, with the health leads represented and contributing to all. Each of these groups have met on at least ten occasions.
The Taskforce has engaged with a large number of relevant bodies and civil society actors, including meeting with the Mental Health Commission on 2 December 2021 and, more recently, with the Chairperson of the National Prison Visiting Committees Chairpersons Group and with the Inspector of Prisons.
The Taskforce has also received presentations from relevant stakeholders including the Mental Health Commission, the Office of the Inspector of Prisons, the Irish Penal Reform Trust and Crowe Consulting on the comprehensive Health Needs Assessment embarked on by the Prison Service.
The Taskforce submitted its interim report to myself and my colleague the Minister for Health on 22 November 2021. I also met the group before Christmas to get an update on their work.
I am advised that the work of the Taskforce is continuing apace with the aim of finalising a report, including a high level implementation plan assigning responsibility and timelines for the implementation of its recommendations, early in Quarter 2.
In addition to the work of the Task Force, this commitment is reflected in the provision of over €2 million in additional funding for the Prison Service to improve mental health services under Budget 2022. This includes just over €1 million for psychologists and specialist mental health nurses in prisons who can work with prisoners to address mental health issues for all categories of offender.
Decisions regarding placement of these additional psychologists are currently being considered and will be based on the mental health needs and overall psychologist-to-prisoner ratio across the estate. To this end, it is intended to recruit additional psychologists throughout 2022.
In addition, I understand that this year, the Prison Service intends to increase the mental health qualifications and skills within the Service's nursing workforce through recruitment, training and development.
The Prison Service continues to work to enhance and improve its level of medical service delivery to prisoners. The Service has embarked on a comprehensive Health Needs Assessment (HNA) to examine the broad range of health care services that are provided across the entire prison estate. This includes the provision of mental health services and the possible recruitment of specialist mental health nurses will be considered in the context of the outcome of the HNA when finalised.
