Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I thank him for coming in. I am sorry the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality is not able to be here to take this question.He might pass on the fact that I wished to commend her on the penal reform programme generally and, in particular, the announcement this week that the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, will be introducing an order that finally ends the detention of young offenders in adult prisons, which is welcome.

This Commencement matter is a lengthy question that relates to a specific issue, that is, the imminent closure of the training unit prison on the North Circular Road prison estate beside Mountjoy Prison. It has been some years since I visited it, as I visit Mountjoy and Dóchas more regularly, but its imminent closure has given rise to serious concerns among current prisoners, staff, the Irish Penal Reform Trust, IPRT, and the Prison Officers Association. I have discussed this matter with Mr. Michael Donnellan, the IPRT and others, but I wish to raise directly with the Minister of State a number of concerns. Mr. Donnellan spoke at the justice committee on 8 March on this issue, but I wish to have more details about the consequences of the closure.

I will raise three specific issues. First, there is a concern among current prisoners that their regimes might be adversely affected by the closure. Those in the training unit are engaged in a wide range of rehabilitation measures. Many are on temporary or day release and are concerned about what the transfer will mean for them. For those transferring to open centres, such as Shelton Abbey and Loughan House, key issues will arise, for example, distance from families and services and continuity of their programmes. For those transferring to Mountjoy west, formerly St. Patrick's Institution, there is a concern around normalisation as being central to rehabilitation. Prisoners in the training unit have communal eating facilities. If they move to Mountjoy, will they be subject to in-cell eating and earlier lock-up times in their cells, will there be a deterioration in their family visiting conditions and will they be able to continue with their rehabilitation regimes? The concern is that the move could amount to a regressive step for those currently serving time in the training unit, in particular those with life or other lengthy sentences who are engaged in long-term rehabilitation regimes.

Second, why is it proposed to house older prisoners together in one place once the training unit is reopened? Mr. Donnellan stated that the unit needed to be upgraded and in-cell sanitation needed to be installed. Once that is done, it is proposed to reopen the unit. I understand that there are approximately 90 prisoners aged over 60 years across the prison estate. Why must they all be kept together?

Third, will the Minister of State confirm whether the closure is in line with the overall penal policy aim of rehabilitation as articulated by the penal policy review group? The IPRT is concerned about this matter. The strategic review group on penal policy recommended an increase in open prison provision, particularly in Dublin. The closure of the training unit will reduce the provision of semi-open accommodation by 96 places to under 7% of bed capacity. This reduction is contrary to the group's report. Mr. Donnellan stated that it would take 18 months to two years to refurbish the training unit. There is a concern that this will be a retrograde step, in that there will be a reduction in semi-open and open prison accommodation during that period.

There is also a concern that the plan to close the training unit in the absence of the provision of alternative open or semi-open facilities amounts to an efficiency measure rather than what it should be driven by, that being, the needs of prisoners and an emphasis on rehabilitation.

While I appreciate the need to refurbish the training unit, I wish to get the Minister of State's response about addressing these concerns on record.