Ms Caron McCaffrey:

More than 70% of people who come into custody every year come for fewer than 12 months. People who are in prison for a short sentence do not have the opportunity or time to deal with addiction properly and it is addiction that is fuelling a lot of the offending in the background. They do not have time to get an educational qualification that will help them to go on to further study in the community. We do not have time to give them a skill so they can get employment when they leave.

For people serving longer sentences, there are incredible resources and incredible staff. I thank the Deputy for paying tribute to the staff and service providers in our prisons. For people serving shorter sentences there are co-morbidities of mental health and addiction issues. A lot of work is happening on the reform side, particularly in the Probation Service, to put supports in the community instead of having people come to prison for a short period, where we are not in a position to reduce the risk factors giving rise to their offending. There are plans to amend the number of community service hours that can be given, which is an alternative to a custodial sanction a judge can use. The more people in the system, the more challenging it is to provide services.

Specifically on what we could do better, if we could get more support in the community for the people who engage in low-level offending because of addiction, mental health issues or low levels of educational attainment, it would be a significant change.