Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 22 February 2024
213. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice the degree to which educational or rehabilitative provision continues to be made for first-time offenders while in prison, with a view to preventing recidivism; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8593/24]
View answerPrisoner care and rehabilitation is a core aim of the Irish Prison Service. The organisation works hard to achieve a balanced approach in relation to its care and custody functions, and seeks to manage sentences in a way that encourages and supports prisoners in their efforts to live law abiding and purposeful lives on release.
I can advise the Deputy that on 31st January 2024 there were 4,777 individuals in custody; of these 1,474 (31%) were in custody for the first time. Various rehabilitative options are made available to all prisoners, including first time offenders. I can assure the Deputy that all services are available to this cohort of people. These include integrated sentence management, education, vocational training, healthcare, psychiatric, offence related treatment, psychological, addiction counselling, welfare, employment, resettlement and spiritual services. These offer purposeful activity to all those in custody, including first-time offenders.
Education in prisons is delivered in partnership with the Education Training Boards (ETBs). A broad and flexible curriculum is provided from basic literacy through to state examinations and Open University. A priority for the Irish Prison Service is supporting those with literacy problems, and to this end, peer mentoring programmes are currently active in all prisons.
The Irish Prison Service has also expanded the number of accredited courses and opportunities available to prisoners in the area of work-training. Enhanced partnership arrangements with accrediting bodies such as City and Guilds, the Guild of Cleaners and Launderers and Cleanpass have enabled the Irish Prison Service to extend the number of available courses and activities with certification.
The Prison Education Taskforce, chaired by Minister Harris and Minister Browne comprises of key agencies such as the Irish Prison Service, Solas, the Probation Service, and the Education and Training Boards. The aim of the taskforce is to ensure greater alignment between prison education and work training and the tertiary education system to support prisoners in benefitting from education and training opportunities while in custody to support their rehabilitation and access to employment post-release. An example of this is the Retrofit Skills Course QQI Level 5 component award – which will be made available in Midlands and Wheatfield Prisons and will give the individual the skillset to gain well-paid meaningful employment in the area of retrofitting. The National Construction Centre, Mount Lucas has worked closely with the IPS over this past year to make this course available.
Other initiatives available to people in custody, depending on their location, include Men’s Shed, Horses of Hope, Gaisce, Red Cross and Listeners Scheme.
I can further advise the Deputy that all people committed to custody are medically assessed by the primary healthcare team. This includes a mental health assessment, which can be employed to develop an individual care plan. Where clinically indicated, a person may be referred to a specialist clinician e.g. psychologist or psychiatrist. For people coming into custody presenting with an addiction or dependence on prescription medications, they will undergo a full health assessment prior to a plan of treatment being agreed.
The Irish Prison Psychology Service pro-actively engages with 18-24 year olds who are committed to custody with a sentence of one year or more (without Post Release Supervision with the Probation Service). This initiative, known as the Building Identity Programme, is a specific, psychologically informed programme focussed on early engagement, assessment and the development of a psychological formulation. This initiative allows young people to learn more about themselves and why they came to prison, and to support their sentence management through the development of a bespoke care plan linked to their risks and needs. Working collaboratively with the young person, key rehabilitation services are identified, and the young person is encouraged to engage with those services in order to support desistance on release from prison.
