The Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald TD, today welcomed the publication of the Probation Service and Irish Prison Service Annual Reports for 2016. In addition, the Tánaiste launched the Joint Probation Service and Irish Prison Service Strategy for Development of Social Enterprise in the Irish Criminal Justice Sector 2017 – 2019.
The Tánaiste said, “During 2016, the number of Community Service Orders issued by the Courts and facilitated by the Probation Service increased to over two thousand. I am pleased to note the increase in the use of Community Service, as an alternative to prison. The use of prison as a sanction of last resort is a core principle of penal reform, and I applaud the Probation Service in their success in providing appropriate alternatives to custody.
I also note the achievements made by the Probation Service in 2016, through the high level of compliance rates in the Community Return Scheme; and the positive results of the fourth recidivism study”.
Welcoming the 12% reduction in prison committals highlighted in the Irish Prison Service Annual Report, the Tánaiste noted the impact that alternatives to custody were having, especially on committals for shorter sentences saying, “We must continue to ensure that violent offenders and other serious offenders serve appropriate prison sentences while at the same time switching away from prison sentences and towards less costly non-custodial options for non-violent and less serious offenders.”
The Tánaiste also noted the 15% reduction in committals for the non-payment of a court ordered fine in 2016 and said that even greater reductions of up to 50% were being experienced in the first quarter of 2017.
The Joint Probation Service and Irish Prison Service Strategy for Development of Social Enterprise in the Irish Criminal Justice Sector, was launched today alongside the publication of both annual reports.
Work undertaken in early 2016 by a Probation Service and Irish Prison Service Steering Group, identified the potential to create employment opportunities for ex-offenders through the creation of social enterprises and considered the relevant structures required to harness such opportunities.
The fundamental theme of the joint Strategy is that people with education and training, who are in employment, are less likely to offend. The aim of the ‘social enterprise’ model is to prepare prisoners for the work environment while in prison and to facilitate them in gaining employment upon release.
Speaking at the launch of the Strategy the Tánaiste said, “I am delighted to launch today, the joint strategy by the Probation Service and Irish Prison Service on the Development of Social Enterprise in the Irish Criminal Justice Sector. This innovative body of work will no doubt provide essential services and supports to ex-offenders as they begin the process of rebuilding their lives and reintegrating into our communities. I commend the on-going collaborative work between the Probation Service and Irish Prison Service, in constantly striving to achieve better outcomes for both offenders and victims in the delivery of their services to the public.”
Notes for Editors:
· The Probation Service and Irish Prison Service Annual Reports are available, alongside the Joint Strategy for Development of Social Enterprise in the Irish Criminal Justice Sector, at the following websites: www.probation.ie and www.irishprisons.ie respectively and www.justice.ie.
· The Joint Irish Prison Service / Probation Service Strategy for Development of Social Enterprise in the Irish Criminal Justice Sector strategy supports the development of social enterprises across four pillars:
1. Creating enabling environments for Social Enterprises
2. Developing leadership and capacity
3. Increasing access to markets & developing SE business partnerships
4. Measuring impact
· Probation Service Report
There were 2,067 Community Service Orders made in 2016 compared with 1,937 in 2015. This represents an almost 7% increase. The use of prison as a sanction of last resort is a core principal of penal reform and greater use of Community Service can be made. The increase in the application of this sanction is very welcome.
The Community Return Scheme continues to have a 90% compliance rate and 270 prisoners completed community return in 2016.
The fourth recidivism study was published in 2016. This looked at the 2010 cohort of offenders who received either Probation Supervision or Community Service. The results show that almost 63% of offenders given one of these alternative sanctions by the Courts had not reoffended in the following 3 year period. This compares well with the previous study (2009 cohort) even though the overall recidivism rate increased marginally from 37.3% to 37.5%.
The Probation Service piloted integrated community service in 2016 with 70 participants. Following from the recommendation of the Strategic Review of Penal Policy, the integrated community model allows for up to one third of Community Service hours to be used to facilitate participants’ attendance at programmes that address the issues connected with their offending behaviour. The pilot will be evaluated in 2017
2016 was an important year for Probation Service internationally. The Director, Vivian Geiran commenced his role as Chair of the Council of Europe working group on prisons and probation co-operation (the PC-CP). The PC-CP work programme for the year, included the completion of high-level practice guidelines on radicalisation to violent extremism of offenders in prison and the community.
Assistant Director, Gerry McNally was elected to the Chair of the Confederation of European Probation (CEP). CEP aims to promote the social inclusion of offenders through community sanctions and measures such as probation, community service, mediation and conciliation. CEP is committed to enhance the profile of probation and to improve professionalism in this field, on a national and a European level. The appointment is a great honour for the Irish Probation Service.
· Irish Prison Service Annual Report
The first recruitment campaign for new Recruit Prison Officers since 2008 commenced in July 2016. These new staff will ensure that the Irish Prison Service is renewed and has the capacity to continue to provide safe, secure custody and rehabilitation in all prisons throughout the country.
In September 2016, the first Joint Strategy for the Management of Offenders and (J-ARC) Joint Agency Response to Crime was announced. This strategy drawn up by the Probation Service, IPS and An Garda Síochána, sets out a range of agreed key objectives and supporting actions for the enhanced management of offenders, which will be advanced on an inter-agency basis in the period 2016-2018.
In 2016 there were 15,099 committals to prison during the year which is a decrease of 12.2% on the 2015 total of 17,206.
8,439 persons were committed to prison as a consequence of the non-payment of a court ordered fine during 2016. This decrease of 14.6% on the 2015 figure of 9,883 is a direct result of the implementation of the Fines (Payment and Recovery) Act 2014.
12,579 persons were sent to prison in 2016 compared to 14,182 in 2015, a decrease of 11.3%.
The number of prisoners committed serving sentences of 12 months or less decreased by 12.2%;
The overall daily average number of prisoners in custody in 2016 was 3,718 compared to 3,722 in 2015. This represents a decrease of 0.1%.
2016 saw 301 people involved in the Community Return Scheme.