Ms Deirdre Malone:

Our area of expertise lies primarily in penal policy and prisons. We believe crime and punishment have to be viewed in the wider context of social policy, marginalisation and exclusion. Fundamentally, that includes education inequality and disadvantage. Victor Hugo said that when we open a school door, we close a prison. Regardless of whether he meant that figuratively or literally, the significant point remains that in responding to crime and the risk of crime, education and genuine access to all forms of education is a vital part of the solution. It is part of prevention and diversion. Even where someone has convictions, whether one or many, it can be part of transformation and rehabilitation.

Our submission identifies five key groups we come across in our work. Each should be relevant to the consideration of educational inequality by the committee. Each has specific needs as well. The first is children affected by parental imprisonment, of which there are at least 6,000. The second is children in care, of which there are more than 6,000. The third is young people who are already in contact with the criminal justice system. The fourth is prisoners and detained children. The final group includes those who have come out but who have criminal convictions.

I will try to assist the committee with a snapshot of the situation in prison. We are grateful to the Irish Prison Service, which allowed us to use some recent statistics gathered. The statistics were taken from 800 prisoners in three prisons. A quarter of those who answered the survey attended no secondary school. More than half left before the junior certificate and 80% left before the leaving certificate. Only one in five had completed the leaving certificate, which compares to three in five in the general population.

It is my view that those children did not fail the education system; the system failed them. We talked to a group of young people between 18 and 24 years who were, by admission, involved in some form of offending behaviour. Every one said they wanted to stay out of trouble and that they were interested in getting a job but they were completely unable to do so because of what had happened along the way in their education.

While our focus is on prison and the penal system, I urge the committee to look at prevention and early intervention. I know that the people sitting here have been talking about this for many years. It is not rocket science. It is straightforward. It requires resources and looking at people as individuals. It requires listened to people who are experiencing this every day. I note that no young people are in this room to tell committee members about their experience and what they think the solution might be. I appeal to the committee to consider that for a future session.

Where someone has gone into prison, the lack of supports available to him or her upon release is problematic. It is a problem even where there has been fantastic engagement with prison education and where people have gone on to do degrees. They come out with no stable accommodation no continuing education and a conviction that acts as a barrier to ever getting a job in future. One concrete thing that could be done is to review the spent convictions legislation. The legislation is posing a major barrier to people looking for employment and further education when they come out.

In summary, five things can be done: prevention and early intervention; identifying and directly supporting at risk groups; recognising diversity in education; looking at the person and not simply the system; and supporting the transitions and people on release.