Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I much prefer to have conversations such as this with the appropriate Minister, but I recognise that in his time as Chair of the justice committee the Minister of State will understand the issues I will speak about. I am not over-exaggerating the point when I say that the current situation in Irish prisons is not only dangerous but is a matter of life and death. The overcrowding situation we see right now has resulted in very recent deaths as a result of having to double people up. We have seen the impact overcrowding can have, not only on prisoners but on prison staff in terms of tensions rising. When there is overcrowding, decisions on security have to be made, which means it can have a negative impact on the likes of the prison school and gym and all the different situations that are rehabilitative rather than security driven.

There had to be an FOI request recently to get information on the recommendations made by the prison overcrowding response group because the report was not publicised by the Minister. There are some very key recommendations in that report. Some of those are long term, including the community sanctions legislation and expanding Trinity Court and the drugs court. However, there is stuff that could happen right now. If we were move towards discounting sentences, without exceptions, 150 prisoners would be released overnight. That is 150 prisoners who would be out of the system. That could happen right now.Instead, what we are seeing from the Minister is legislation being prioritised, like increasing sentences for knife crime in the Life Sentences Bill 2024 that is going to be coming before the Joint Committee on Justice. These types of legislation are an illusion of safety and of addressing things because they do not act as a deterrent to crime, they do not reduce the prison population and they do not reduce violence. Instead, legislation like this is being prioritised over having an impact in the system in the moment.

On short sentences, last year alone, 79% of sentences were under 12 months in duration. In 2023, 79% of committals for last year were for shorter than 12 months. There has to be a more sensible way. Why would we be putting people in for short sentences? That is not advocating for people to get longer sentences, but to make sure the supports are in place so that we can see community sanctions happen within communities and that we relieve the pressure on the prison system.

Another area that needs to be looked at is the expansion of probation. Other countries have a much more expansive probation system that even goes into things like step-down accommodation when people are coming out of prison. We have people in prison right now who are not being released because they are homeless. Imagine being detained because of the situation with homelessness in this country. We need to be able to address that, and some of that can be addressed by looking at the prison system with regard to how we can expand the Probation Service.

We also had recommendations from that group which looked at the curtailing of the use of remand. We heard about this in the Joint Committee on Justice. Right now, people are being held on remand for crimes for which they are presumed innocent. We have huge overcrowding with regard to remand and a misuse of remand. That needs to be addressed today. Right now, I am sure the prison system is making decisions on how it can release prisoners who have been sentenced, so it can detain prisoners who are on remand. I reiterate that right now, it is a situation of life and death in terms of the prison system. It always concerns me when Ministers choose the idea of giving the illusion of doing something by looking at long-term issues around increasing sentencing and mandatory sentencing. None of that addresses the issues. It is really important for a Minister to recognise that he or she is not an expert. Right now, the experts are very clearly calling for and making recommendations on how we can address overcrowding in the prison system today as well as other long-term issues.