THE prison service is badly managed, wastes taxpayers' money and fails to keep the public safe from convicted criminals, according to the Progressive Democrats.
The party has proposed a radical reform of the system, including a new agency to run it, a 50 per cent increase in the prison population and a reduction in the prison officers' overtime bill, which totals £16 million a year.
Introducing a policy document yesterday, the party leader, Ms Mary Harney, said that the State had "the worst prison record in Europe" and the changes proposed could be achieved without extra public spending.
She recommended that the new prison planned for Wheatfield in Dublin be built by the private sector, although the party does not want private firms running prisons. An autonomous agency should be in charge. It would be separate from the Department of Justice, but its director would be answerable to the Minister and to a Dail committee.
According to the PDs 4,000 prisoners are released early every year and a further 4,500 are given temporary release due to lack of space.
Ms Liz O'Donnell, the party's justice spokeswoman, said that she knew of at least two recent cases where "substantial" sums had been been paid by the State to compensate victims of people who had committed crimes while on temporary release. The large numbers being released created an "appalling vista of potential liability on the State".
Ms O'Donnell said there was "obviously a management union problem" regarding high prison staffing levels and officers' pay. Prison officers outnumbered prisoners (there are 2,498 officers and 2,260 inmates) while a ratio of one officer to two inmates was common elsewhere. Overtime payments, at £16 million a year, brought the average officer's annual pay from £16,290 to £30,000. The cost of keeping an inmate in an Irish prison was £45,000 a year, compared to £22,000 in Britain and £13,500 in France.
Ms O'Donnell emphasised that the party was not criticising prison officers or governors, but the "lack of political direction and the way the system was run from the Department of Justice.
The Department responded yesterday that a building programme had started which would bring the number of prison spaces up to about 3,000.
The Association of Higher Civil Servants, which represents prison managers and governors, said that both groups wanted a separate prisons board to be set up. Mr Sean O'Riordan, AHCS general secretary, said the union agreed that the temporary release system was "a scandal".