Minister hails incentives in new sentencing proposals
Proposals for new statutory sentencing powers to provide incentives for offenders to avoid criminal behaviour are to come before the Government, Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said today.
Mr McDowell said the proposals to change the sentencing powers would provide practical incentives for offenders to address their problems.
Under the new amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill, a court could suspend or partially suspend sentences, other than mandatory sentences, subject to certain conditions including keeping the peace.
At an Irish Prison Service seminar for Governors on a new Drugs Policy and Strategy, Mr McDowell said: “An order may include a condition that the person undergoes drug treatment or other substance abuse treatment or a rehabilitation course for sex offenders or that the person agrees to be subject to the supervision of the Probation and Welfare Service.”
Mr McDowell said the proposals would also include in appropriate cases the option for the courts to impose a fine but defer the custodial sentence to assess if the offender avoided crime and the causes of criminal behaviour.
Under the new proposals, the courts would be given the power to impose restrictions of movement and electronic monitoring orders rather than imprisonment in certain minor offences.
At the seminar the Justice Minister also highlighted visits from family members and friends to prisoners as the weak link in efforts to eliminate drugs from jails.
He outlined enhanced security during visits by family members and friends to prisoners, sniffer dogs and mandatory drug testing as three specific ways drugs could be eliminated from prisons.
Mr McDowell said tolerating a drug culture within prisons was not an option.
“I will not accept that drugs in prison are a fact of life about which nothing constructive can be done. For many prisoners, imprisonment offers them an opportunity to examine their problems and, with the support of prison services, to try and address them,” he said.
Mr McDowell said the measures outlined in the new Drugs Policy and Strategy in relation to prison visits would prove important in the crackdown.
“While I do not wish to undermine the important human element of visits, we cannot ignore the fact that visits are a perpetual weak link in eliminating drug supply,” he said.
“Prison visits for the addicted prisoner are focused on the transfer of drugs to the detriment of any useful or meaningful interaction with their family or friends, and indeed places family and friends in the invidious position of committing the crime of supplying drugs.”
Mr McDowell said in these cases a closed visit would be more appropriate.
The minister said mandatory drug testing would provide information information on trends in drug misuse and aid in the referral of drug abusers to treatment programmes.
“Mandatory drug testing will also provide important information that will contribute significantly to decision-making in relation to the management of individual prisoners’ sentences,” he said.
Mr McDowell said it was also clear from other jurisdictions that the use of passive drug detection dogs could be effective in eliminating drug supply by deterring potential smugglers and aiding detection of attempts.
At the seminar, the minister said he did not support the introduction of measures such as needle exchanges or the provision of bleach tablets in prison.
“Any person seeking syringes, needles and fluids under such a scheme would be indicating to the prison authorities that he or she is in possession of, or expects to shortly be in possession of, controlled drugs and proposes consuming them.
“To supply a prisoner with the requested items in these circumstances would, in effect, be to tell him or her that prison management will facilitate the commission of serious criminal offences in the prison,” he said.
