Prisoners set for early release in plan to tackle overcrowding
Some 1,200 prisoners are to be released over the next three years as the Irish Prison Service seeks to tackle a long-running overcrowding problem.
Under the plan, 400 inmates who are serving sentences of between one and eight years will be freed each year on temporary release.
Justice Minister Alan Shatter said the scheme would only be open to convicts who show they are not a risk to the wider community.
“Our prisons are not intended to be mere warehouses for criminals and I want to see an increased emphasis on rehabilitation,” he said.
The plan was unveiled under the Irish Prison Service three-year plan. The document also set out how authorities aim to ensure in-cell sanitation in all prisons over the next 40 months.
The report said that by the end of this year, almost 60% of cells in Mountjoy will have in-cell sanitation and by 2014 the whole prison will have been radically upgraded.
Plans are well under way to redevelop Cork prison with new units being built on the car park site while there are separate plans for parts of Limerick prison to be rebuilt.
The Irish Prison Service said it has seen prisoner numbers increase by 32% over the five years to the middle of 2011 when they peaked at 4,389.
However, it warned the number of staff working in the service actually decreased from 3,350 to 3,310 at the end of last year.
Officials described the early release scheme as an incentivised system freeing prisoners temporarily and it would only be open to inmates who pose no threat to the community. The idea would see them released in return for supervised community service.
Mr Shatter said great care would have to be taken to ensure that there was no danger to the wider public from the scheme.
“Providing we carefully select prisoners, it’s a win-win,” he said. “It creates the possibility that some of the prisoners who are treated in this way will not reoffend.”
The temporary release has already been operating for about nine months as a pilot programme.
Mr Shatter insisted that it would only be widened up further to inmates nearing the final months of their detention and who would be suitable for early release.
He stressed that prisoners in the early stages of long sentences of up to eight years would not be considered for the scheme.
It is envisaged that 150 prisoners would be allowed out of jail under the early release programme at any one stage. Inmates would be returned if they breach the terms of their licence.
Liam Herrick, director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT), called for wider reform in the justice system, including parole and sentencing.
“After decades of misguided prison expansion and an apparent lack of effective policy, IPRT believes this strategic plan puts forward a coherent approach to prison policy and planning based on sound principles,” Mr Herrick said.
“Recent commitments around the ending of detention of children in St Patrick’s Institution and investigating deaths in custody have also been extremely significant.”
