Written answers

Thursday, 8 June 2006

Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform

Prison Education Service

5:00 pm

Photo of Dan BoyleDan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 26: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the education programmes being offered to prisoners in the prison system; the programmes recently terminated; the reason for the termination of these programmes; the programmes being prepared for roll-out; when such programmes will commence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22210/06]

Photo of Michael McDowellMichael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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Education units offering a substantial and varied curriculum are in full operation in all prisons and places of detention, with the exception of Cloverhill Remand Prison where the education unit is now expected to open in the near future. Education for prisoners at these units is provided by a cohort of teachers comprising 210 full-time equivalents, mainly employed by Vocational Education Committees. This includes provision for the summer months and also enables special teaching arrangements where prisoners are segregated (e.g., Portlaoise, Mountjoy, Wheatfield, Limerick, Midlands, Castlerea and Cork).

The education curriculum ranges from basic literacy to Open University courses, and includes structured physical education, health education, social education, the arts in various forms, as well as more conventional school subjects leading to Junior and Leaving Certificate and Further Education and Training Awards Council (FETAC) certification. Objectives, methods and course content are largely those of adult education; a high degree of curriculum and teaching material development forms an essential part of prison education.

There have been no terminations of prisoner education programmes. As in any adult education setting, the range of courses or programmes available at the different education units will, of course, vary in accordance with prisoners' needs and local circumstances. In several institutions there is a high level of turnover of the prisoner population, which requires a flexible approach with regard to the curriculum content. Thus, on an ongoing basis, some courses may be discontinued and new ones offered in their place, but it would not be appropriate to regard such alterations as a termination of education programmes.

I am also arranging to forward the Directory of Prison Education 2006 to the Deputy. The Directory, which gives more details of what is available in the Education Units of different prisons, is prepared annually by the Irish Prison Service's Co-ordinator of Education.

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