Written answers

Thursday, 23 May 2013

Department of Justice and Equality

Prisoner Welfare

Photo of Anne FerrisAnne Ferris (Wicklow, Labour)
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162. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of ISM officers currently employed within each prison; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24901/13]

Photo of Alan ShatterAlan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Irish Prison Service is implementing an Integrated Sentence Management (ISM) initiative within the prison system. ISM involves a new orientation in the delivery of services to prisoners and an emphasis on prisoners taking greater personal responsibility for their own development through active engagement with both specialist and non-specialist services in the prisons. The end result is a prisoner-centred, multidisciplinary approach to working with prisoners with provision for initial assessment, goal setting and periodic review to measure progress.

Over a thousand new prisoners participated in ISM in 2012. At the end of April this year there were over two thousand three hundred current and active cases and over a thousand prisoners had sentence plans in place at that time. Currently sixteen ISM Co-ordinators are in place in ten institutions as set out in the table underneath. It is envisaged that, through redeployment and a forthcoming internal competition, full time ISM Co-ordinators will be assigned to all prisons in the coming months. Having a dedicated team of ISM Co-ordinators in all prisons will enhance the effectiveness of the sentence management system and facilitate the growing numbers of prisoners participating in the process. A complement of over twenty ISM Co-ordinator posts have been identified to date, through the Transformation process, to provide vital coordination and support for the initiative at prison level.

InstitutionNo.
Arbour Hill1
Castlerea2
Cloverhill2
Dochas2
Loughan House1
Portlaoise1
Midlands2
Mountjoy2
Training Unit1
Wheatfield2
Total16

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