Alan Shatter TD, Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, today
published the Thornton Hall Review Group Report. The Minister confirmed
that on Tuesday the Government approved in principle the Report’s
recommendations.
Minister Shatter said “I very much welcome the Government’s decision to
accept, in principle, the recommendations detailed in the Report. The
timeframe for the Thornton Hall and Kilworth Prisons projects as outlined
in the Report will be discussed in the Autumn in the context of the
Government’s discussions on capital spending priorities for 2012.”
The Review Group’s view is that decisive action is required on several
fronts to address the problem of overcrowding and poor physical conditions,
particularly in Mountjoy and Cork Prisons. It stresses the need to improve
prison regimes and conditions and to provide in-cell sanitation. It
recommends: [1] that a new prison with 300 cells capable of accommodating
500 prisoners be developed at Thornton Hall, and [2] that Cork Prison be
closed at the earliest possible opportunity and a new prison developed at
Kilworth, Co Cork, with 200 cells capable of accommodating up to 350
prisoners. The Report also recommends that each site should have secure,
step-down accommodation inside the prison walls effectively providing an
open centre regime within a secure perimeter. Thornton Hall should have 20
step-down facilities capable of accommodating up to 200 prisoners, and
Kilworth should have 15 step-down facilities capable of accommodating up to
150 prisoners. The Minister stated: “Taking this step would enable prison
authorities to give greater operational effect to the ‘principle of
progression’ in the penal system. This objective requires managing safely
and purposefully the transition of offenders from committal to a prison
cell to eventual release into the community. The proposed prison complexes
will allow the prison authorities to create incentivised prison regimes to
allow offenders progress through the system in a way that helps their
eventual reintegration into society. This recognises in a practical way
that reintegration of offenders into society is one of the core functions
of the prison system.”
While acknowledging the difficult economic and financial constraints facing
the country, the Minister said that he was acutely conscious that in recent
years prisoner numbers and the numbers on temporary release have increased
dramatically. On Friday 22 July 2011, a total of 5,479 prisoners were in
the prison system, and the number of prisoners on temporary release owing
to cell incapacity was 612. The Minister said: “Although overcrowding
cannot be resolved overnight, it is imperative that we take reasonable and
practical steps to alleviate the pressures on capacity within our prison
system.”
The Minister agrees with the Review Group’s view that prison overcrowding
cannot be solved solely by building more prisons and that further steps are
required to reduce the prisoner population. The Report recommends a
combination of front-door and back-door strategies to reduce the prison
population. The front-door strategy would involve giving the courts the
power to impose a wider range of non-custodial sanctions. The back-door
strategy would involve an incentivised scheme for early temporary release
coupled with a requirement to do community service under supervision in
order to “pay back” the community. Another recommendation includes the
introduction of a home detention system in appropriate cases.
The Minister strongly welcomed the Group's recommendations on non-custodial
sanctions, stating that: ‘The Government has already achieved much progress
in this area. The greater use of community service involves, for example,
the development of a pilot scheme under which offenders may be offered
earned, earlier release in return for community service. This should come
on stream in the autumn. The Criminal Justice (Community Service)
(Amendment) (No 2) Bill has completed its passage through the Houses of the
Oireachtas and will shortly become law. The Bill requires judges to
consider community service as an option where a sentence of up to 12 months
is being considered. The Fines Act 2010 also introduced measures to prevent
the automatic imprisonment of fine defaulters. Measures which will allow
the recovery of fines by means of attachment of earnings orders are
currently being prepared.’
The Review Group also recommends a strategic review of all aspects of penal
policy, the establishment of an inter-departmental group to examine the
issue of people with mental illness who have been sentenced by the courts
and transitional arrangements for the management of 16 and 17 year olds in
St Patrick’s Institution pending the construction of new juvenile detention
facilities in Oberstown.
Thanking the Review Group for providing its comprehensive report within a
very short time, the Minister said, ‘The recommendations detailed in this
Report will, in the years ahead, make a positive contribution to the
development of penal policy in this country.’
The Thornton Hall Report is available on the Department of Justice and
Equality website at
http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/ThorntonHallReviewRpt
Independent oversight of the prison system is strengthened; the Prisons
Authority (Interim) Board is abolished
The Minister also announced that, on Tuesday 26th July, the Government
decided to abolish the Prisons Authority (Interim) Board, which was set up
in 1998. The Board, which has a membership of 12 people, was set up by a
previous administration to advise on and guide the management of the prison
system pending the creation of an independent statutory Prisons Board. But
no statutory Board was ever established.
The Board made a valuable contribution to the creation of the Irish Prison
Service as a separate agency. On foot of its commitment to ‘More Effective
Financial Scrutiny’ in the Programme for National Recovery, the
Government’s policy is to abolish agency boards where appropriate and to
make agency managers directly accountable to Ministers. In line with this
policy, the Government can see no case for keeping the board in existence.
The Minister points out that the Irish Prison Service, under its Director
General, is already directly accountable to him. The decision to abolish
the Board will save more than €100,000 per year. The Minister said; ‘The
Government is grateful to the members of the Board and its chairperson, Mr
Brian McCarthy, for their valued, dedicated and solidly constructive public
service over the years.’
The Minister proposes to put a stronger spine of independence into the
oversight of the prison system. The Prisons Act 2007 provides for an
independent Inspector of Prisons. The Minister stated: ‘The Inspector of
Prisons has independently and robustly tackled the issue of poor conditions
in our older prisons. This has involved inspecting prisons, a retrospective
exercise in each case. But his role has a vital prospective component: he
has produced human-rights-based statements of principle that define the
requirements of a safe, decent and effective custodial system. In other
words, he is addressing himself not only to what is being done but also to
what should be done and this proposal to expand the Inspector’s role will
enhance his independent oversight of the prison system.’
The Minister says that two things in particular need noting: [1] Under the
proposed arrangements, Visiting Committees will submit their Annual Reports
to the Inspector of Prisons who will publish them. At present the Annual
Prison Visiting Committee Reports are submitted to the Minister. Visiting
Committees will report every two months to the Inspector on any issue that
they wish to bring to his attention. They will be able to report any urgent
or major issue to him at any time. [2] Visiting Committees will continue
their role of visiting prisons. They will continue to meet with prisoners
and liaise on their behalf with prison authorities. But they will be more
effective: each Visiting Committee will comprise no more than six members,
and only suitable people with appropriate qualifications and a genuine
interest in prison issues will be appointed. The Inspector will have
independent oversight of their work.
ENDS
Note for
Editors:
Financial information that is commercially sensitive has been redacted from
the published version of the Thornton Hall Report.
The members of the Review Group were:-
· Mr Brendan Murtagh, Chairperson, - a Partner in LHM Casey
McGrath Chartered Certified Accountants;
· Ms Catherine McGuinness – former Judge of the Supreme Court,
and former President of the Law Reform Commission.
· Mr Brian Purcell, Director General, Irish Prison Service; and
· Mr Tom Cooney - Special Adviser to the Minister;