Mr. Michael Donnellan:

I thank the Chairman. As the Secretary General has mentioned, the committee will be aware of significant changes and reforms that have occurred in the Prison Service in recent years. The prison system has experienced severe strain and has had to deal with the continuing challenge of overcrowding. Thankfully, overcrowding has been eliminated due to a number of factors, including enhanced pre-release planning, structured temporary release, community return and community release. The number of people in custody has fallen by 20% from its peak in 2011. More important, the number of people on temporary release has decreased by 70% from its peak. There is no doubt that this is making society much safer. The implementation of the fines legislation is starting to have an effect on committals. We have not yet seen the full benefit of that. Last year, we saw a decrease of 15% in the number of people being committed to prison for non-payment of fines. This is very welcome.

We are continuing to develop a comprehensive capital programme. Having developed new modernised accommodation in Castlerea Prison, Portlaoise Prison, Wheatfield Prison and the Midlands Prison, our priority now is to develop existing accommodation with a special focus on rehabilitation and the elimination of slopping out. Five years ago, there were 1,000 people, or 25% of the prison population, slopping out. Fewer than 50 prisoners, or 1% of the prison population, are slopping out today. We hope to eliminate that with the development of facilities in Limerick and Portlaoise in the coming years. The opening of the new Cork Prison in 2016 was a major initiative as the previous prison in Cork was the worst prison in our prison estate. The introduction of an incentivised prisoner regime system has helped with behaviour and has helped to drive down violence in the prison system.

The committee will be aware that for various reasons, some prisoners have to be accommodated separately from other prisoners. We call this a restricted regime and we have been working very hard in the past number of years to reduce the number of people who are on 22-hour or 23-hour lock-up, as it is called, or solitary confinement down to a manageable number. Significant progress has been made on that.

We have also been working with the Central Statistics Office, CSO, in ensuring we can measure recidivism and measure the effectiveness of prison. Our first reports were published in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 and during that period we have seen a drop in recidivism, that is, of people re-offending within a three year period, from 55% to 45%. I hope in the next five to ten years I will see that percentage dropping down to 35%, which is the norm of the Nordic countries. I am confident that the successful implementation of our strategy has really helped the prison system.

I look forward to developing our new strategy, which we are now implementing, which is built around supporting prisoners, supporting our staff, supporting victims and developing organisational capacity. This has to be against the backdrop of additional hours, AH, which has allowed stability and predictability in the system and the diversion of much-needed funds to a more rehabilitative focus.

I thank the Chairman and members.