The Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, Mr. Alan Shatter TD, today
(22 January, 2013) announced amendments to the Prison Rules to support and
give effect to robust new procedures for the investigation of prisoner
complaints.
The Minister said “I had announced on 8 August, 2012 that new robust
procedures would be introduced to investigate complaints by prisoners. As
I said then, I was not satisfied that the existing complaints procedures
were effective. Prisoners are in a particularly vulnerable position and
they must have access to a credible complaints system that deals with
genuine complaints in an open, transparent, and independent way. The
amendments to the Prison Rules which came into operation on 14 January,
2013 is a major step forward”.
The Minister had asked the Inspector of Prisons to advise on a suitable
prisoner complaints model and the Inspector submitted a detailed report on
the matter which was published last August. While the intention is to put
in place a comprehensive complaints system, this will take time and the
first priority is to address those category of complaints which have given
rise to most concern. These are what the Inspector referred to as category
“A” complaints alleging serious ill treatment, use of excessive force,
racial discrimination, intimidation or threats.
The Director General of the Irish Prison Service had been instructed to
introduce procedures for dealing with the most serious of complaints as an
immediate priority. The Prison Service recruited a panel of 22 external
investigators and the new procedures went live on 1 November, 2012.
In the main, the amendments to the Prison Rules provide that prisoner
complaints will be examined by investigators from outside the Prison
Service to ensure an effective and impartial investigation. The
complainant will be kept informed and their reports will be automatically
submitted to the Governor in question, the Director General and the
Inspector of Prisons. The Inspector of Prisons will have oversight of the
process from the very beginning.
Minister Shatter said “I am giving consideration to some amendments to
section 31 of the Prisons Act 2007 to facilitate a more formal role in the
appeals process for the Inspector of Prisons and to enhance his
investigatory powers in dealing with non prison personnel and obtaining
access to medical records. The changes to the Prison Rules nevertheless
represent a major step forward”.
Minister Shatter added “I am confident these amendments will make a
difference and reflect my commitment as Minister to having a credible and
comprehensive prisoner complaints system in place. The position will
continue to be kept under review in light of experience in implementing the
new procedures and further changes will be made in due course if
necessary”.
The Minister also published the Annual Report for 2011 of the St Patrick's
Institution Visiting Committee.
The Committee has reported on a number of issues during the year including
conditions generally, accommodation and maintenance, staffing, education,
workshops, prisoners on protection, the use of special cells, and
developments generally within the Institution. The Committee met monthly in
St Patrick’s while individual members made 21 random and unannounced visits
during the year. They met with inmates during those visits and discussed
any concerns raised with prison management at their monthly meetings.
Speaking on the publication of the Report, Minister Shatter said that “The
report must be read alongside the recently published Report from the
Inspector of Prisons, Judge Michael Reilly, on St Patrick’s Institution
which raised serious and major concerns in relation to the Institution. I
also published the Irish Prison Service's Action Plan for implementing the
Inspector's recommendations. In light of the Inspector’s report, I asked
if the Committee would consider the issues raised and whether they would
wish to comment on its contents”.
The Committee has welcomed the Inspector’s Report, and the Action Plan put
in place by the Irish Prison Service which they will support. Their main
focus is on ensuring the welfare, education and rehabilitation of inmates.
As set out in the Inspector’s report, the chairman of the Committee had met
with the Inspector and raised a number of issues with him. Their views
were endorsed by the Inspector who also commented that they appeared to be
carrying out their mandate in accordance with the relevant legislation.
For their part, the Committee recognise the concerns raised in the
Inspector’s report and strongly recommend that adequate resources and
training be made available to support St Patrick’s and the Irish Prison
Service in implementing the recommendations in the strategy drawn up to
address the issues raised by the Inspector.
The Minister said “I already said when publishing the Inspector’s Report on
16 October, 2012 that the culture in St Patrick’s must change. The full
support of everyone involved including the Visiting Committee is required
to meet that challenge and everything possible must be done to address the
issues within the timeframes set by the Inspector if not before then. An
Action Plan is now in place implementing all of the Inspector's
recommendations and I am pleased to say that over 80% of the
recommendations have been implemented to date”.
The Minister added “The Government is committed to ending the practice of
sending children to St. Patrick's Institution. The practice of sending 16
year old boys to St Patrick’s ceased on 1st May, 2012. The detention of
children in St. Patrick’s Institution will end with the provision of more
appropriate accommodation and regimes in the new detention facility at
Oberstown by mid-2014. To that end, the Government allocated €20.4 million
in capital funding for 2013 to the Department of Children & Youth Affairs
to enable this project to proceed”.
“In the interim the Irish Prison Service is devising a specific strategy
for the management of young offenders. Central to this strategy is
enhanced cooperation with the Irish Youth Justice Service including the
placement of a number of care staff from the children detention schools to
work alongside prison staff in St Patrick's. It is intended that this will
take place in the coming weeks. In addition, the feasibility of
accommodating some categories of the 17 year old age group in the child
detention schools before mid-2014 is being actively examined".
The Prison Rules (Amendment) 2013 (S.I. No. 11 of 2013), and the St
Patrick’s Institution Visiting Committee report are available on the
Department’s website
www.justice.ie