Ms Saoirse Brady:

One in five people in prison are currently on remand. The high rate of remand needs to be dealt with. The issue of people being detained when some do not go on to serve a sentence should be addressed. Community service orders are also part of that. I mentioned the community sanctions Bill earlier. We have spoken to judges. They say they do not have enough options open to them for alternatives to custody, particularly for those who will be sentenced for very short periods. I think last year over 1,000 people were released from custody after 24 hours. I question why they were sent to prison in the first place if the Prison Service deemed them to be of so little risk to the public that they were then released. The short sentences piece is something we really need to crack. Community service orders go some way towards that. The prison overcrowding response group provided a report to the previous Minister for Justice. It put forward some really practical solutions like a review and expansion of the drug treatment court. It looked at a temporary release scheme for women in particular which has been piloted. There are bail support schemes. I have spoken about this before with Deputy Ward. They work effectively in the youth justice system. The IPRT's pre-budget submission for this year refers to putting in place a bail support scheme for women in the first instance and then expanding it to others. Ms McCormack may wish to comment.