Update: Education and Training for Prisoners – Justice & Equality 24th September, 2014

QUESTION NO:  7
DÁIL QUESTION addressed to the Minister for Justice and Equality (Ms. Fitzgerald)
by Deputy Bernard J. Durkan
for ORAL on Wednesday, 24th September, 2014. 

 To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the extent to which prisoners continue to have access to ongoing education and rehabilitative training; the percentage of first time offenders who are referred for such training in the first year of their sentence; the average number who do not have such access on an annual basis; the extent to which adequate procedures are in place to ensure that procedures within the prison service are geared to discourage repeat offender; and if she will make a statement on the matter.

                                                           – Bernard J. Durkan
 
REPLY.
I can inform the Deputy that the Irish Prison Service provides to those in custody a wide range of rehabilitative programmes that include education, vocational training, healthcare, psychiatric, psychological, counselling, welfare and spiritual services which have the dual purpose of providing prisoners with purposeful activity while serving their sentences and encouraging tem to lead law abiding lives on release.  These programmes are available in all prisons and all prisoners are eligible to use the services.

While the records available do not allow us to differentiate between first-time offenders and repeat offenders, I can inform the Deputy that from the records that are available figures,  the latest available figures (09/06/2014 to 13/06/2014) show that an overall total of 1,490 offenders participated in Education activities which represents almost 37% of the prisoner population at that time. 
 
Similarly an average of 1,052 prisoners engaged in vocational training activities each day in June and this represents 27% of the average prison population in that month.  It should be noted that a prisoner may participate in more than one activity.  

The development of prisoner programmes forms a central part of the Irish Prison Service Three Year Strategic Plan 2012 – 2015. There is a clear commitment in the Strategy to enhance sentence planning through  Integrated Sentence Management and the delivery of prison based rehabilitative programmes.

The guiding principles which underpin the prisons’ work and training service are to make available, work, work-training and other purposeful activities to all those in custody.  Training activities are chosen to give as much variety as possible and also to give opportunities for those in prison to acquire practical skills which will help them secure employment on release. 

110 Work Training Officers have recently been appointed and assigned to areas such as catering, laundry, industrial cleaning, industrial skills and gym this brings the total number of Work training Officer in place to 308.5. In addition, there are also 6 full time Industrial Managers  with  4 acting Industrial Managers in the prison estate. This will allow the prison service to build on the opportunities available to prisoners in the Work and Training area for the years ahead.

The Deputy will be aware of the Government’s commitment to capital investment in the prison estate, and that despite the current economic difficulties, building work on a new prison in Cork is well under way, as well as the refurbishment and renovation of the D Wing, Mountjoy Prison. in addition a Business Case for the Limerick Prison project is currently being considered by the Department of Public Expenditure When these projects are finalised they will allow the prison service to provide further enhanced education opportunities for prisoners.

As well as seeking to draw on best practice in adult and further education in the community, there has been a lot of curriculum development over the years that is specific to prison circumstances, such as courses on addiction, health issues and offending behaviour.

Other areas where there has been significant progress in prison education are in physical education, in the provision for higher education, in the arts and in preparing prisoners for release and supporting their transition to life, and often to education, on the outside.  A top priority for the Irish Prison Service is ensuring help for those with reading and writing problems and peer mentoring programmes are currently active in all of our prisons.

The Irish Prison Service has also been expanding the number of accredited courses and opportunities available to prisoners in Work Training in recent years. Enhanced partnership arrangements with accrediting bodies such as City and Guilds, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), and the Guild of Launders and Cleaners and the centralising of coordination and quality assurance arrangements have enabled us to extend the number of available courses and activities with certification.

On committal, all prisoners are interviewed by the Governor and are informed of the services available in the prison.  At this point prisoners may be referred to services or they can self refer at a later date. Where Governors consider, on the information available, that a prisoner needs a particular intervention they will initiate a referral.