Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 119: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the total number of prisoners currently incarcerated at all locations throughout the country; the extent to which rehabilitative or training programmes are available throughout; the number currently receiving training or education; the number of any applicants for such programmes; the extent to which an examination has been carried out as to the importance of such programmes when prisoners are eventually released into the community; his plans to develop such rehabilitative programmes in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22731/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I can advise the Deputy that there were 4,380 prisoners in custody on 2 May, 2012.

As the Deputy will be aware from my replies to previous Parliamentary Questions, the Irish Prison Service provides a wide range of rehabilitative programmes that include education, vocational training, health care, psychiatric, psychological, counselling, welfare and spiritual services. These programmes are available in all prisons and all prisoners are eligible to use the services. On committal, all prisoners are interviewed by the Governor and are informed of the services available in the prison. At this point prisoners may be referred to services or they can self refer at a later date. Where Governors consider, on the information available, that a prisoner needs a particular intervention they will initiate a referral.

The Irish Prison Service has also introduced an Integrated Sentence Management (ISM) system which involves a new orientation in the delivery of services to prisoners and an 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 is a prisoner-centred multidisciplinary approach to working with prisoners with provision for initial assessment, goal setting and periodic review to measure progress.

As regards the numbers involved, I can confirm that an average of 38% of the prison population attended educational classes in 2011. The development of vocational training programmes in recent years means that there are now over 100 workshops capable of catering for in excess of 800 prisoners each day. There was also a significant increase in the number of prisoners who participated in accredited vocational training course in 2011, when 1219 prisoners attended such courses.

The Inspector of Prisons recommended in his 2010 Annual Report that an independent audit be commissioned by the Irish Prison Service examining the type of education being provided in prisons, the relevance of such education, the numbers being educated and the value for money being provided. The reports for each of the 14 Prison Education Centres are being finalised and will be sent to the Department of Education and Skills and the Inspector of Prisons with a view to the early implementation of recommendations.

The development of prisoner programmes also forms a central part of the new Irish Prison Service Three Year Strategic Plan 2012 - 2015 which I launched last week. There is a clear commitment in the Strategy to enhance sentence planning including Integrated Sentence Management and the delivery of prison based rehabilitative programmes such as education, work training and resettlement programmes.