The Government has appointed the first independent inspector of the Prison Service.
The Inspector of Prisons and Places of Detention will examine the quality of prison regimes; attitudes of staff and inmates; health, safety and well-being of prisoners; conditions of buildings; inadequacies in management, and questions of humanity and propriety.
The first inspector will be Mr Justice Dermot Kinlen when he retires from the High Court in April. Mr Justice Kinlen examined conditions for prisoners in Vietnam's re-education camps in the 1980s and served on jurist commissions to the Philippines. He also served on diplomatic missions for the State and travelled to China with President Ó Dalaigh in 1983.
The inspector's terms of reference will provide for the Minister for Justice to ask that he examine any specific incidents or issues connected with the running of any place of detention. The inspector may also raise any issues of concern with the Minister. An annual report on the prisons will also be published not less than four months after the end of each calendar year. Until now the annual report on the Prison Service has been made by visiting committees, which will remain in place.
