I hope the Minister will explain to the House why the Mountjoy Prison report found its way into the newspapers this morning before Deputies had seen it or before it had been placed in the Library of this House. I raised this issue with you, Sir, but, of course, it is not your responsibility.
This report could best be described as a damning indictment of our prison service. It costs £660 per week to keep someone sentenced and convicted of an offence in our prisons. It seems, from this report, that there are still huge ongoing problems within our prison service and, in particular, within Mountjoy Prison. There is no time this evening to go through the entire report but some of the points raised in it are worth repeating.
The report states that Mountjoy Prison is grossly overcrowded, that prisoners find themselves in multiple cells contrary to prison rules and that on occasions there are no beds available. It refers to the serious riots during the year which were caused primarily by boredom, frustration and overcrowding, and refers to urgent steps being necessary from the Government to forthwith transform the prison system into a dignified rehabilitative centre. It should be noted that the riots which took place last September have cost this State in the region of £2 million. The report states that there is a rising prison population and that there is need for a fully equipped and trained staff providing an imaginative rehabilitative programme. It notes that the vast majority of prisoners never work while in prison.
If prison is to serve a purpose, the purpose must be twofold. The first is deterrent and the second is rehabilitative. This report confirms that those kept in prison are more likely to receive a postgraduate degree in crime and to go on to commit more crimes than to be rehabilitated. For £660 per week per prisoner this State is getting very poor value from its prison service. Those people who are sentenced to imprisonment are released back into the community with the inevitability of committing further crimes and so adding to the crisis in crime that we now have, with a 16 per cent increase in the number of crimes committed within this State within the last two years — an enormous increase over a two-year period.
The report says that the bulk of prisoners never get detailed or proper assessment or any proper training and that those prisoners who are in prison for drug abuse do not have available to them adequate medical services. An extraordinary element in this report is the statement that owing to administrative problems between the Department of Justice and the Department of Health, the establishment of a drugs clinic which has long since been promised has not yet happened.
The report recommends that the temporary release programme with which I agree in so far as it is useful, should not be used simply to ease pressure on prison space and should only be awarded to those who have earned it. I agree entirely with that sentiment.
This report indicates that within our prison service, and within Mountjoy Prison, we are in for a long hot summer. This report and the Minister's inadequate response to the problems in Mountjoy Prison mean that we will have ongoing problems within the Prison Service. The Minister's response, as reported in today's papers, is that his Department are examining the criminal justice system and the Prison Service and that a report will be published on prison policy. We need more than a report. We need adequate custodial facilities. Rehabilitative and education programmes need to be put in place and we need an explanation why the majority of prisoners in Mountjoy Prison never do any work or get any training to give them necessary skills for use when they return to the community, that afford them the opportunity for leading a life without returning to crime. We must provide within the criminal justice system a prison service that works and that acts as a real deterrent and as a rehabilitative institution.
Mountjoy Prison fails on all these counts and it is quite clear from the report of the visiting committee that they have grave concerns about the facilities and conditions in Mountjoy and the training available there.