A DISTRICT Court judge has said he “might as well close down shop” if a proposal by Irish Prison Service director general Michael Donnellan to place people who are sentenced to less than 12 months in jail on community-based programmes is realised.
Speaking in Mullingar District Court yesterday, Judge Séamus Hughes said he had drawn from Mr Donnellan’s comments that a prison term was not a suitable sanction for those who appeared before him at the District Court.
He said that limiting the prison sanctions available to the court – the maximum term being 12 months – would effectively create “a licence to commit crime”.
Judge Hughes said that if Mr Donnellan spent a week in the District Court or on patrol with gardaí, he would realise he “shouldn’t interfere with something that’s working – at least to a modicum”.
Mr Donnellan, who recently took up the position, said the prison population increased by 30 per cent over the past five years and that he would have to look at alternatives to imprisonment as funds required to create extra space were not available.
He told RTÉ News there were some 500 inmates serving sentences of a year or less and that he wanted these people to serve their penalties in the community. He said he would work with community groups, gardaí and the judiciary to ensure such people could be diverted from jail. He said he would outline his proposals to Minister for Justice Alan Shatter before the end of March.
Former Mountjoy governor John Lonergan said the strategy appeared to be “progressive and a bit revolutionary”. Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Dara Calleary TD said the proposals should be considered by the Government.