Seanad debates
Wednesday, 8 October 2003
Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Second Stage.
The question of granting temporary release is clearly set out. The Minister has rightly said that it emanated from the Corish case. It seems very sensible, as he rightly said, in an era of absolute transparency on such issues that the criteria be set down clearly. I have gone through the criteria and obviously will support much of it. However, I have some reservations about some of it. The Minister may direct the temporary release of a person serving a sentence of imprisonment. It sets out the purposes, stressing the person's ability to reintegrate into society upon such release. That begs the question to what end. I have seen examples in some prisons, Castlerea among them, where there is accommodation of the sheltered kind within the prison precincts to enable people who may have become institutionalised while in prison to graduate to a more settled exterior existence. People often encounter difficulty, particularly if they have been incarcerated for a long time, reintegrating into society and I know that temporary release is in part designed to help them do that.
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