Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 27 February 2013

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality

Penal Reform: Discussion with User Voice

2:30 pm

Mr. Mark Johnson:

No matter what situation one is in one can use it to benefit the services provided. If one is a drug addict who does not comply with an order and uses street drugs rather than get a methadone prescription one can provide insight into how to make a better service that might potentially help one, whether or not one is cured or can get off it. I am a recovering drug addict. I have been clean for 13 years. I used heroin at the age of 11.

That is well documented. When people start a programme of change, that is the best measure that offenders have been successfully rehabilitated. If the drug and alcohol addictions are removed, all of the cryogenic factors are removed. Some of my staff, although not all, I can manage through my experience of being an employer, and I have employed hundreds of people. If they are clean, they are okay. When their behaviour changes, I know if it is time to offer help or remove them from a high-risk job.