Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

That is what intrigued me. It is stamped as having gone through the censor's office. It is interesting as it is a hands-on account of what is happening in St. Patrick's Institution, and even worse is the already clear intent of what he will do when he is released. How can we possibly expect the prison system to work if that is how things are operated?

The example from my letter can probably be multiplied a thousand times for all the inmates that have passed through St. Patrick's. However, it shows what can happen when the most impressionable and vulnerable section of the prison population are being treated — or not treated — like this. How can the Minister expect crime to decrease when this is happening right under the noses of the prison authorities?

What will happen here? I predict that the young man who wrote this letter will be back in prison, but not before he ruins many more young lives with drugs, as he already plans to do, encourages more drug-related crime and contributes further to the criminal and gangland elements that are running amok in this country.

This reinforces the case for looking for new ways to deal with crime. Locking them up and throwing away the key is not the answer in all instances. Of course, there will be some who are beyond rehabilitation and will not respond to schemes or intervention programmes. However, there will be some who will benefit and break the cycle of crime and become functioning members of society.

I have in my possession an e-mail from an ex-prisoner who undertook an education course in prison. He was imprisoned in July 2002 and spent four years in prison. During that time he undertook educational courses and was accepted to Trinity College Dublin. While I know that Members must be careful in dealing with prisoners and ex-prisoners nowadays, he wrote to me because the Department of Education and Science had refused him the grant for going to Trinity owing to his failure to comply with the conditions. That was not unconnected with the fact that he was out of circulation for the previous four years. I am glad to say this problem was overcome.

The second example shows that progress can be made. However, I am concerned that there is not sufficient emphasis on the possible benefits of rehabilitation. Sufficient resources are not put into it and sufficient political will does not exist. Taking the approach of locking people up forever is too simplistic. We should have a more nuanced approach, keeping those out who should not be there and, in so far as we can, putting a huge emphasis on the possibilities of rehabilitation or education for those who would benefit and who would come out of prison better members of society than when they went in, rather than worse as applies at this stage. That is why I put great emphasis on alternatives to prison and on restorative justice and why I recently went to the trouble of producing a major report for the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights on the issue. It represents a new approach which, if rolled out nationally, has the possibility, particularly in the cases of young and first time offenders, of ensuring they are answerable for their crimes but do not clog up the prison system or, even worse, go to prison unnecessarily and come out far worse than when they went in.

I will deal with some of the issues arising in the Bill. The Minister will not be surprised that I want to refer to Thornton Hall. The first problem was that the Minister had grand plans for Thornton Hall and for Cork. Despite pressure on prison space he took a number of prisons out of commission, long before these new prisons were much more than a gleam in his eye. That was a foolish approach. It was even worse for the fact that facilities existed at Wheatfield, but there is insufficient emphasis on rehabilitative and other measures to enable them to be used fully and properly. In addition, the Dóchas prison is exceptionally well equipped for those who must be incarcerated but it may be a victim of the overall plan.

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