The Prison Service is a "disastrous failure" which "practically guarantees" that young people will follow a life of crime when they are released back into society, the inspector of prisons report has concluded. Ronan McGreevyreports.
In his last report before his death in July, Mr Justice Dermot Kinlen said that prisons should be a last resort, but most judges were left with no choice but to send somebody to jail because the only option was either jail or fines and the bulk of people who appeared in front of them had no visible assets to pay fines.
Mr Justice Kinlen, who was a forthright critic of the prison system, said there should be smaller prisons and that rehabilitation should be more than a "pious aspiration" but the "dynamo of the entire prison system".
He cited a study by Prof Ian O'Donnell which was published last year, which found that almost half of all Irish prisoners are back in jail within four years of being released.
He highlighted Prof O'Donnell's comments that children and the young should be kept out of jail "to prevent this futile punitive cycle from becoming ingrained".
He was heartened by efforts by District Court judges to allow first offenders to make amends in the community for their crimes and also by a decision by Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan to set up a committee to advise on restorative justice.
The inspector said he was not convinced that large prisons like the one proposed for Thornton Hall were the answer.
"Tension which clearly exists in several prisons will not go away because the minister intends to produce an alleged panacea in Thornton Hall and Spike or anywhere else in the distant future," he said.
Mr Justice Kinlen called for a prisoners' ombudsman, an independent assessment of spending in the prison service and an inspectorate with a legal mandate to enter prisons without notice.
He revealed that he offered to investigate the killing in Mountjoy of Gary Douch, who was beaten to death in a holding cell in August last year.
Mr Justice Kinlen said he was not even asked and assumed that was as a result of highly critical comments he had made about conditions in Mountjoy in previous reports he had compiled.
While highly critical of the prison service in general, Mr Justice Kinlen praised several prisons that he inspected.
He was particularly complimentary about Wheatfield Prison in Clondalkin, which he said was kept very well, had high hygiene standards and "very good" morale between staff and prisoners.
He said relations between staff and prisoners in Limerick Prison was "quite good" and that it was a well-run prison, but rehabilitation schemes were not working and there was a shortage of staff.
He also described Arbour Hill as "well-run" with a "relaxed and homely atmosphere", but he expressed grave concern that it held the only sex offenders' scheme for the whole country.
He said the relationship between prisoners and staff at Portlaoise's high security jail was very good and there had been significant improvements since 2002.