The number of prisoners participating in a sex offenders programme in jails has declined over the last few years, it emerged today.
Justice Minister Michael McDowell said he was concerned by the drop in those seeking to take part in rehabilitation programmes while in prison. Mr McDowell said a sentencing provision would be included in the Criminal Justice Bill to give prisoners an incentive to join the remedial programmes.
"One of the measures we are going to bring at the committee stage of the Criminal Justice Bill is a sentencing provision to allow courts to suspend part of the total sentence package based upon co-operating with such regimes," he said.
"So it will be a direct positive incentive for prisoners to fully cooperate with those kind of programmes ... it would give them a very clear choice either cooperate or serve a longer sentence," Mr McDowell added.
Gordon Holmes, chairman of the Parole Board, said officials were deeply concerned by the small amount of prisoners, who had been jailed in the Curragh Prison but were not involved in the programme.
"It is surely a matter of concern that prisoners...can be, in this day and age, released to the public without any form of training or without being required to attend any of the many programmes available to assist in their rehabilitation," he said.
"It is only a matter of time until such prisoners go back into their old habits and reoffend again." Mr Holmes said the rehabilitation of prisoners required diligent attendance at the programmes.
The chairman said the granting of remission should be conditional on their own efforts to ensure they are trying to help themselves.
The Parole Board's report for 2004 showed that no prisoners in the Curragh Place of Detention were interviewed for early release. However, eight out of the 34 prisoners that accepted an invitation to come before the Parole Board had been found guilty of sex offences.
In a strongly worded foreword to the report Mr Holmes said interviews with convicted killers showed the availability of knives and guns increased the murder rate. "The most restrictive legislation regarding possession of these lethal objects is necessary and it is equally necessary that it be vigilantly applied," he said.
Crimes involving alcohol were also a cause of concern for the board. Mr Holmes said alcohol intake should not be considered a mitigating circumstance in the commission of a crime.
"Since drunkenness is in itself an offence - albeit a minor one - it is difficult to understand the logic in using it as a mitigating factor in a otherwise heinous crime."
He suggested the Crime Commission or the Law Reform Commission make recommendations that would prevent such a defence being used.
He also noted the board's "dismay" at the lack of psychologists within the Prison Service and called for their availability in every prison in the State.
Additional reporting PA