Revolving-door system back in vogue, says POA president

POA ConferenceIrish jails have returned to the revolving-door system of detention with some inmates being granted temporary release just two days into their sentence, according to the Prison Officers' Association (POA).

Mr Gabriel Keaveny, president of the association, told delegates at its annual conference in Ennis that overcrowding and a lack of staffing in prisons are now such serious issues that inmates are being released temporarily to ease the pressure on the prison system. The increase in temporary releases of late had been "dramatic", he said.

"In one case we are aware of, a prisoner was committed to prison serving a six-month sentence on Thursday. He was taken to hospital on Friday and granted temporary release on Saturday. This is a disgraceful situation and should be addressed urgently before the crisis becomes totally unmanageable."

The Irish Prison Service said it was not granting temporary release in order to free up beds. A spokesman said in 1997 around 20 per cent of the prison population was on temporary release at any one time. Currently that figure is less than 10 per cent.

Mr Keaveny criticised the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, saying he preferred to communicate with prison officers through the media rather than the POA.

"Too many times over the past year we have heard of major plans directly affecting our members, firstly through the media. This is not good practice," he said addressing Mr McDowell. He added the Minister's "master plans" for the prison service were "many and ever changing".

While Mr McDowell had laid down to the officers a 90-day deadline at last year's conference to resolve overtime spending, that deadline had passed and the association "is still alive and well".

Negotiations at the Labour Relations Commission on pay and conditions had been long and were still ongoing, but the association would get all it could for its members from the process. "There won't be another drop of juice in the lemon if and when the process is completed," he said.

At a time when the prison service was trying to reduce expenditure some multi-million euro investments had gone to waste.

A school at St Patrick's Institution, Dublin, had cost €10 million yet it had never been opened. It was an inexplicable "white elephant".

Some 12 months ago the POA had raised a number of issues at its conference which needed to be addressed. These included targeting bullying within the prison service. However there had been no response from the Department of Justice on the issue.