Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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295. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of fully designated integrated sentenced management officers per prison across the prison service; and the average caseload per ISM officer. [32282/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I can advise the Deputy that a total of 24 dedicated Integrated Sentence Management Coordinators are now operational in all prisons and open centres. The allocation of dedicated staff in each establishment greatly enhances the effectiveness of the sentence management system and facilitates the growing numbers of prisoners participating in the process.

Newly committed prisoners with a sentence of greater than one year are eligible to take part in Integrated Sentence Management. This involves a specific 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, multi-disciplinary approach to working with prisoners with provision for initial assessment, goal setting and periodic review to measure progress. Important issues such as accommodation, employment or education are addressed to help the prisoner resettle into the community on release and reduce the risk of re-offending.

Integrated Sentence Management Coordinators are also active participants in sentence planning for certain categories of prisoners serving less than one year, for example, female prisoners, prisoners who have declared their risk of homelessness on release, or prisoners participating in the Community Support Scheme. The Integrated Sentence Management process has played a key role in the success of the Community Return Scheme.

The Irish Prison Service is currently collating the figures requested in relation to the caseload of the Integrated Sentence Management Coordinators and will forward this information directly to the Deputy as soon as it is to hand