Sir, - It was with much interest that I read Valerie Bresnihan'sletter of August 28th and I would like to take this opportunity tocorrect a number of errors in it.
Dr Bresnihan states that "just over one in six prisoners are inprison for fine defaulting. What injustice! What inefficiency!" I wouldlike to point out that, on any given day, the number of people holdingdown a prison space for non-payment of fines is closer to one in everyhundred rather than one in six. I should also say that the Irish PrisonService has no choice in relation to the prisoners we have toaccommodate. This, as Dr Bresnihan is aware, is a matter for the courts.
"€500 million spent in officer overtime last year". This isapproximately nine times the actual amount spent which was, in fact€55.3 million. As a point of information, I wish to make it clear thatthis Service attaches a high priority to the issue of overtime and, inthis context, a team is currently finalising proposals aimed at runningthe prison system in an efficient and effective manner, withoutrecourse to paid overtime.
The ratio of staff to prisoners within our prisons is high byinternational standards as stated by Dr Bresnihan. However, there arevalid reasons for that. For example our regimes are staff intensive andthe age and size of many of the institutions means that economies ofscale that apply elsewhere do not apply. Comparisons with non-contactprison systems are not really valid.
Dr Bresnihan's claim that 90 per cent of Irish prisoners appear toreoffend is mistaken. It may be based on a statistic gleaned from asurvey of Mountjoy prisoners by Dr Paul O'Mahony in 1996. This was byno means a representative sample of the prison population then or now.Dr O'Mahony acknowledged this in his report. It is very difficult toassess accurately the effectiveness of imprisonment in terms ofrecidivism. Nevertheless it is our view that no prison system couldsustain a 90 per cent rate of reoffending and I would estimate that, atmost, our rate is between 60 and 70 per cent which, although it mightseem high, would compare favourably with many other jurisdictions.
I acknowledge that the issue of crime and imprisonment willundoubtedly continue to provoke widespread debate. Such debate ishealthy for society, However, I would caution that, if such debate isto be relevant, it should be based on facts. - Yours, etc.,
SÉAN AYLWARD,
Director General,
Irish Prisons Service,
Monastery Road,
Clondalkin,
Dublin 22.