Richard Bruton
Ceist:63 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice if she will consider the possibility of some offenders, committed for minor offences, serving their sentences at weekends.
Written Answers. - Review of Prison Operations.
As I have indicated in the House and elsewhere recently, I have commenced a major review of official policy in relation to the operation of prisons and the treatment of offenders generally. A wide range of options is being considered in this context including the wider development of community based sanctions as an alternative to prison custody and the development of more liberal parole arrangements, and so on. We can certainly look at the possibility of offenders committed for minor offences serving their sentences at weekends in the context of the review. However, as imprisonment is, as a rule, reserved for the more serious or persistent offenders in this jurisdiction, such a scheme would be unlikely to have very wide application.