Vol. 560 No. 5
119 Ms O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his plans for the provision of education services for juvenile offenders who will be transferred to other institutions as a result of the closure of Shanganagh Castle, similar to those now provided by the education centre at Shanganagh; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26715/02]
The order closing Shanganagh Castle was made on 16 December 2002 and took effect from 20 December 2002. Of the 16 offenders detained in the centre at that time, 14 were transferred to other institutions with the remaining two offenders, who had imminent release dates, being granted full release.
Male juveniles aged 16 to 21 years of age will, henceforth, either remain in St. Patrick's Institution or, to a limited extent, will be accommodated elsewhere in the prison system including in the open centres at Shelton Abbey and Loughan House. Prisoners generally have access to a wide range of educational services and, for well over a decade now, participation in education in our prisons has consistently been over 50% of the whole prison population.
St. Patrick's Institution has a strong ethic of multi-disciplinary team-working which has resulted in the development of new programmes over the past two years for the rehabilitation of offenders including a drug-free wing, personal development group programmes and a positive sentence management programme. The other institutions in which these offenders may be detained are Fort Mitchel, Shelton Abbey, Loughan House and the training unit. Education programmes are available in all the foregoing institutions. The education programmes in St. Patrick's Institution and the training unit are comprehensive. Fort Mitchel, Shelton Abbey and Loughan House can also offer comparable education programmes to those available at Shanganagh Castle in the past.
I am arranging to forward the directory of prison education 2002 to the Deputy. The directory, which gives more details of what is available in the education units of different prisons, is prepared annually by the Irish Prison Service's co-ordinator of education.
