THE ANNOUNCEMENT by Minister for Justice Alan Shatter of an incentivised release plan for up to 1,200 prisoners over a three-year period represents a progressive development in a long-awaited reform programme.
The initiative, however, draws attention to the inadequacy of training, education and therapeutic services within prisons and for the need to develop a rigorous assessment procedure for eligible prisoners, linked to a proper oversight and complaints system.
Mr Shatter is quite correct when he states that prisons were not intended to become “mere warehouses for criminals”. And his commitment to “an increased emphasis on rehabilitation” is heartening. But the situation within the Irish prison system has been allowed to drift for so long, with unsuitable accommodation and cutbacks in rehabilitation services being compounded by gross overcrowding, that an early resolution of complex issues is probably beyond reach.
For years, politicians and governments massaged public fears by promising to “get tough on crime” and demanded minimum sentences for certain offences. Punishment, rather than rehabilitation, was the mantra. Overcrowding has helped to make prisons dangerous, drug-influenced places, adjusting that punitive approach will be difficult. It helps that a system of community service encourages people to behave appropriately and costs only one-third of the prison alternative.
The number of offenders being sent to jail has fallen during the past year, partly as a result of a contraction in the drugs trade. In spite of that, prison overcrowding is so intense that 900 offenders are currently on temporary release, without structured activity. This incentivised release scheme has been designed with that reality in mind. It will require the careful evaluation of all prisoners serving between one and eight-year sentences whose conduct and profiles suggest they can benefit from the community service option without posing a risk to the wider community. Properly structured and funded, it will offer a considerable advance on the current “revolving door” practice.
As a stand-alone measure, however, it cannot address the extreme overcrowding that has led human rights organisations to describe our prisons as “degrading, inhumane and unsafe”. To reduce numbers still further and provide for rehabilitation services in a suitable environment, the judiciary and Garda will have to be fully on board: the former by imposing non-custodial sentences for less serious offences; the latter in ramping up juvenile liaison and other schemes in response to minor crime and antisocial activity. Last year, judges were required to consider community service as an alternative to short-term sentences. Jail has also been rejected as an appropriate punishment for the failure to pay fines or debts. These measures should contribute towards the evolution of a more humane and effective prison system where rehabilitation is regarded as a major element of the confinement process.