Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 42: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when integrated sentence management will be available to all prisoners; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14144/08]

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 56: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason integrated sentence management does not take place in all prisons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14143/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 42 and 56 together.

Sentence management processes have operated in the prison system for many years to the benefit of prisoners and the community. Over much of this time, the development of these processes to their full potential has, however, been constrained by a number of factors.

New regulatory, organisational and working arrangements together with the ongoing programme of modernisation of the prison estate and the addition of new programmes and services have transformed the situation in recent times. The Irish Prison Service is now in a position to develop and roll out a fully coordinated Integrated Sentence Management System (ISM) across all prisons and places of detention. The National Development Plan is providing significant new funding for this initiative and the roll out of ISM will be delivered progressively over the lifetime of the Plan.

ISM will involve a new orientation in the delivery of services to prisoners and a new emphasis on prisoners taking greater personal responsibility for their own development through active engagement with both specialist and non-specialist services in the prisons. The end result will be a prisoner-centred, multidisciplinary approach to working with prisoners with provision for initial assessment, goal setting and periodic review to measure progress.

During 2008, pilot sentence management projects will be progressed at Wheatfield and Arbour Hill prisons. Parallel work will take place on the selection of assessment tools and processes and the development of staff training programmes and an IT database to support the ISM system.