Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 181: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform the recidivist rate of prisoners who have been released over the past five years by length of term served including prison terms of three months or less; six months; 12 months; 18 months; two years; three years; five years; seven years and ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46386/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I wish to advise the Deputy that the Irish Prison Service does not collate statistics in relation to recidivism rates. However the Irish Prison Service facilitated a major study of prisoner re-offending by the UCD Institute of Criminology, published in December 2006. The study is based on 19,955 prisoner releases that took place between 1 January 2001 and 30 November 2004. This is an enormous sample on any view. The study found that 27.4% of released prisoners were serving a new prison sentence with one year. This rose to 39.2% after two years, 45.1% after three years, and 49.2% after four years. The fact that over 50% of prisoners did not re-offend within four years of release, compare well internationally and was considerably less than figures about by commentators over the years.

The Irish Prison Service provides a range of rehabilitative programmes which have the dual purpose of providing prisoners with purposeful activity while serving their sentences and encouraging and equipping them to lead productive lives on release.

Prisoner rehabilitation involves significant multidimensional input by a diverse range of general and specialist services provided both by the Irish Prison Service and in-reach statutory and non-statutory 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.

The Irish Prison Service places a strong emphasis on access to educational services and on the provision of work and training activities for prisoners. Educational services are available at all institutions and are provided in partnership with a range of educational agencies in the community including the VECs, Public Library Services, Colleges and the Arts Council. A significant expansion of vocational training programmes has taken place in recent years and there are now over 90 workshops in place in our prisons capable of catering for in excess of 800 prisoners each day.

Deputies:

Arbour Hill, Castlerea, Cork, Dóchas, Midlands, Mountjoy, Portlaoise, St. Patrick's Institution, the Training Unit and Wheatfield. Currently, 730 prisoners are engaged in ISM. It is intended to provide ISM to all newly committed prisoners with sentences of one year and upwards.

Deputies:

In addition, the Probation Service has an active role in helping prisoners maintain links with family and community agencies and encouraging them to address their offending behaviour while in prison and in supporting them in efforts to avoid re-offending post-release.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 182: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform the number of prisoners released in 2008; 2009 and to date in 2010 that have been referred through Connection, PACE or any other agency to independent accommodation or a job; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46387/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

PACE is a community based organisation funded by my Department through the Probation Service. PACE supports people through the transition from prison and an offending background into the community and to break the cycle of offending.

PACE residential services provide supported accommodation on a short term basis for 22 homeless males leaving prison. There are 14 high support places and 8 transitional low support places. PACE also provides low support long term accommodation to a further seven people from offending backgrounds.

The specific number of clients PACE residential services worked with over the last three years is: 60, 64, and 58 to September 2010.

The PACE training and education programme can accommodate 40 trainees at any one time. The specific number of clients who engaged with the programme over the last three years is: 102, 87, and 90 to September 2010.

In regard to employability placement programmes, Business in the Community Ireland (BITC) is the main provider of support in this area. Since its inception in 2000, the BITC Linkage Programme has been providing a professional guidance and placement service, in partnership with the Probation Service, to persons on probation and to prisoners and ex-prisoners. Currently, the community-based BITC Linkage Programme Training and Employment Officers (TEOs) provide an in-reach clinic service to prisoners in eight of the country's fourteen institutions.

Since 2007, a new BITC programme - the GATE Service - has been operating in six institutions - Mountjoy, Dóchas, St Patrick's, the Training Unit, Midlands and Portlaoise. Funded by the IPS, four GATE Service TEOs work on a full-time basis in the prisons concerned and provide a training, education and employment placement service. From the start-up of the service in the summer of 2007 to the end of October 2010, 1,132 referrals have been made to the TEOs and 394 post-release placements have been secured in respect of the 569 prisoners who continued to work with the TEOs following their release from prison. The specific number of employment placements over the last three years is: 66 in 2008; 83 in 2009; and 66 in 2010 to end October.

In recent years, in addition to the direct work of probation officers in regard to accommodation issues, a weekly clinic service has been provided in ten prisons by the Health Service Executive (HSE) Community Welfare Service through the Homeless Person's Unit (HPU). Referrals to this service generally are at the pre-release stage and emergency and other accommodation options, supplementary benefits and fast tracked medical cards are arranged by the Community Welfare Officers (CWOs) who provide the information and clinic services. There were 700 prisoners assisted by the CWOs in 2008 and a further 759 in 2009. There is no breakdown available as to the number who were facilitated into accommodation as opposed to receiving other support services. The figures for 2010 are not yet available.

Focus Ireland operates a pilot homeless service in Cloverhill Prison which provides a case management and pre-settlement service for remand prisoners. The service supports participants in accessing appropriate services and accommodation on the pathway to independent living. The project is supported by the IPS, the Probation Service and the HSE. By the end of 2008, 68 prisoners had benefitted from the service since its establishment in September 2007. A further 25 prisoners used the service in 2009. Figures for 2010 are not yet available.

The IPS secured €250,000 in Dormant Accounts funding for the provision of homelessness support services to prisoners in Cork and Limerick prisons. This service is provided by Focus Ireland and commenced in the summer of 2009. By the end of 2009, there had been 49 referrals to the service and the two project workers had an active caseload of 39 cases. Figures for 2010 are not yet available.