Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Prisoner rehabilitation involves significant multidimensional input by a diverse range of general and specialist services provided both by the Irish Prison Service and in-reaching statutory and non-statutory services. Amongst these are health care, psychiatric, psychological, educational, vocational, counselling, welfare and spiritual services. These services are important in addressing offending behaviour, drug and alcohol addiction, missed educational and vocational opportunities, anger management, and self management in the interest of encouraging positive personal development in prisoners, and preparing them for re-integration and resettlement on release from custody. Details of the major services available in prisons are set out below.

Education

Educational services are now available at all institutions and is provided in partnership with a range of educational agencies in the community including the VECs, Public Library Services, Colleges and the Arts Council. Broad programmes of education are made available which generally follow an adult education approach. During the academic year 2007/08, 220 whole-time-equivalent VEC teachers were the main providers of these education programmes.

Work Training

The Work Training programme operates at each prison. As well as organising necessary services such as catering and laundry, it also provides work and training opportunities for prisoners whilst ensuring a high quality of service delivery within the prison. Work Training provides structured pre-vocational and vocational training so that persons in custody can acquire the skills that may help them to obtain employment after their release. The Programme for Organisational Change provided for a significant expansion and development of vocational training programmes. This is being facilitated by an increased budgetary allocation and by an increase of almost 100 in the prison grade staff involved in work and training activities.

Probation Service

This Service has an active role during the course of the prisoner's sentence in helping maintain links with family and community agencies, encouraging prisoners to address their offending behaviour and engaging prisoners in individual counselling and group counselling programmes such as offending behaviour, addiction, violence and sex offending. The Service also provides supervision in certain cases under temporary release provisions.

Chaplaincy Service

Prison Chaplains promote the spiritual and pastoral welfare of prisoners and also participate with other services in the secular care of prisoners. The work of the Chaplaincy Service involves extensive contact with prisoners on personal and family matters as well as other issues which arise in relation to their confinement in prison.

Psychology Service

The principal aim of this service is to provide, in co-operation with others, a generic therapeutic service to prisoners aimed at addressing their psychological needs and at reducing re-offending.

Drug Treatment

Drug rehabilitation programmes for prisoners involve a significant multidimensional input by a diverse range of general and specialist services provided both by the Irish Prison Service and visiting statutory and non-statutory organisations. The programmes seek to reduce the demand for drugs within the prison system through education, treatment and rehabilitation services for drug-addicted prisoners. Particular initiatives include the provision of detoxification, methadone maintenance, education programmes, an information forum, addiction counselling, drug therapy programmes and the operation of Voluntary Drug Testing Units (more commonly known as drug-free areas).

The Irish Prison Service Drugs Policy & Strategy — Keeping Drugs Out of Prisons- caters for the expansion of existing drug treatment programmes and further recruitment of dedicated staff. The expansion of these services is being achieved in partnership with community based services and will see a significant improvement in the range, quality and availability of drug treatment service in the prisons.

Sex Offender Programmes

Every effort is made to assist sex offenders in custody who are willing to participate at any level in their personal rehabilitation and relapse prevention. In this regard, there are three forms of direct therapeutic intervention currently available — i.e. individual counselling from the Irish Prison Service's Psychology Service and from the Probation Service; the Sex Offender Programme which has been in operation since 1994, and the Psychiatric Service which provides some support to prisoners in this category.