Paudge Connolly (Cavan-Monaghan, Independent)

Normally, I like to feel I have done a considerable amount of research before I speak on a Bill. However, this evening, I could not lay my hands on either of the two experts in the Independent group who have first-hand knowledge of the system, Deputy Gregory, who spent four weeks in prison, and Deputy Joe Higgins, who spent two weeks in prison. I would have expected them to have insider knowledge. They would have felt they were prisoners of conscience who had committed no crime. At times, I feel that neither of them has adequately recovered from their experience.

Deputy Neville referred extensively to the link between people with psychiatric histories and prisons but the same link will not be established between Mahon and prisons. Deputy Neville correctly referred to the number of people with psychiatric problems who are improperly placed in prisons. I am concerned about the over representation of such prisoners in our prisons. While they may have committed a crime, their illness was probably a factor but the difficulty is they cannot afford fancy lawyers. They must take what they get and they may not even be fit to present their case to a lawyer so that he can work on it, which is a major difficulty. It would be more suitable if such prisoners were placed in a regional secure unit in a psychiatric setting where the focus would be on treating their illnesses and they would be closer to home and have the support of their families. They should also be looked after by staff with experience in the provision of psychiatric services. People with mild mental handicaps should not be held in prisons, as they are the subject of regular abuse. Prison is not the appropriate place for them.

The legislation proposes a radical rejigging of the Prison Service, encompassing the closure of Mountjoy Prison and the construction of new prisons and extensions. Mountjoy Prison is past its sell by date. The legislation also provides for the contracting out or privatising of prisoner escort services, which is a radical departure for the Prison Service. It is not clear whether private security firms, more commonly used in the provision of security for the transport of large sums of cash, will readily adapt to the transfer of prisoners. We have had numerous examples of security vans being intercepted and robbed and it is likely that dangerous, high profile prisoners could be sprung. If criminals can take millions in cash, I am sure they take a high profile prisoner. However, it is doubtful if the farming out of such services will result in a saving for the Department. I often wonder why a courtroom cannot be built adjacent to or within a prison, as that would be eminently sensible. It would also be safer, cost effective and more convenient for everyone involved. In the natural progression of things, the Prison Service must change with the times and I hope this will result in a modern, humane and forward-looking service.

Prison rehabilitative strategies are specifically designed to reform the defendant's character and they would bear most fruit among the younger element of the prison population. Prisoners in their later teens and early twenties are at an important formative and developmental stage in their lives. The VEC provides a valuable and crucial educational service, as does St. Patrick's Institution, which is very much educationally focused. The closures of Shanganagh Castle and Fort Mitchel detention centres do not reflect a significant commitment to the rehabilitation of young offenders on the part of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. A total of 200 prisoners in St. Patrick's Institution are aged between 18 and 20 while one third of the prison population is under 18. These prisoners are at an impressionable age where professionals could work with them to reform their behaviour, particularly if they have fallen foul of the law only once. Such initiatives should be examined to stop criminality in its tracks.

Criminal offenders largely spring from social structures, reflecting individual family circumstances or psychiatric or psychological influences. Different rehabilitative programmes related to individual counselling, education and training and family intervention are used and such a humane approach should be adopted.

I refer to the imprisonment of people for the non-payment of petty fines, which is a waste of prison resources. A number of people have an attitude problem in that they would rather do time than pay their car tax or whatever. However, community service should be used as an alternative to prison for fines offences. Prison spaces are valuable and these people who are not hardened criminals should not be imprisoned. Recently, people deliberately committed crimes so that they would be imprisoned.

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