Written answers
Tuesday, 11 July 2023
Department of Justice and Equality
Prison Service
Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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96. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the actions she will take, following the ‘Summary of the Inspection on Education and Work Training April-June 2022’ in our prisons completed by the Inspector of Prisons, to ensure that the key issues on work training highlighted in the summary will be addressed; when she expects that these issues will no longer be highlighted; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33962/23]
Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can advise the Deputy that the Irish Prison Service has developed an Action Plan in response to the Office of the Inspector of Prisons “Thematic Inspection on Education & Work Training, April – June 2022 report”.The Action Plan outlines a summary of actions proposed by the Irish Prison Service to address recommendations made by the Inspectorate. Both the Office of Inspector of Prisons “Thematic Inspection on Education & Work Training, April – June 2022 report” and the Irish Prison Service Action Plan have been published and are available on Gov.ie
A key recommendation in the Office of the Inspector of Prisons Report was the need for a more strategic approach to education and work/training to facilitate rehabilitation.I can advise the Deputy that the Prison Education Taskforce was established on 23 May 2023 and is jointly chaired by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris and the Minister of State with responsibility for Law Reform in the Department of Justice, James Browne.The aim of the Taskforce is to ensure improvements in the work and training area and greater alignment between prison education and the tertiary education system to support prisoners in benefiting from education and training opportunities while in custody to support their rehabilitation and access to employment post-release.
The Prison Education Taskforce Workplan strategic objectives include;
- enhancing the understanding of the education, training needs of the prison population, strengthening information and reporting on education and training delivered in prisons,
- realising the potential for greater alignment across the prison education and training services and tertiary provision to ensure labour market readiness for prisoners on release,
- deepening and intensifying existing partnerships between the prison education and the tertiary education system,
- ensuring the role of education and training system in supporting transition of prisoners out of the prison system is maximised to reduce recidivism risk,
- supporting Open University provision and other Higher Education linkages and to explore potential for educational programmes for family members of prisoners.
In order to minimise impact on services, the Prison Service is committed to strengthening the numbers of staff assigned to the Prison Service Escort Corps to limit the burden on prison based staff being reassigned to escorting duties. Under Budget 2023, a €6.5m additional staffing package was secured for the Prison Service to provide for additional staff recruitment to support rehabilitation and training. Pending the recruitment of additional staff and with effect from September 2022, additional hours were and will continue to be made available at prison level to support improvements in opening hours and access to services including education services.
A number of vacancies have been filled for Work and Training grades, further competitions are scheduled for Q3 2023.
I can advise the Deputy that the Irish Prison Service negotiated the inclusion in the Public Service Agreement: Building Momentum 2021 – 2022 the ability to directly recruit Work Training Officers. The Irish Prison Service are committed to progressing this external recruitment and have been engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in this regard.
Balancing the demands for “digital literacy” among prisoners with security constraints is an ongoing challenge for the Irish Prison Service. The Irish Prison Service continues to work with the Education and Training Boards and other Prisoner Services to make greater use of in-cell learning opportunities. Embracing technology and providing a blended approach to learning increases the ability of teachers and Work and Training Officers to extend education and training provision to students, especially to those on restricted prison regimes or confined to cell due to, for example, infection control measures.
Francis Noel Duffy (Dublin South West, Green Party)
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97. To ask the Taoiseach the recidivism rates in all Irish prisons. [33913/23]
Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The Central Statistics Office compiles official statistics on Prison Reoffending on an annual basis. The CSO does not currently include in its prison reoffending statistics any breakdown of reoffending by prison location because the prison where releases are registered taking place can differ from the prison location where individuals spend the majority of their custodial sentences. The Prison Reoffending publication does provide statistics on the number of individuals that are convicted of reoffending within one and three years of release from custody, classified by both personal and justice related characteristics including offence type, reoffending offence type and dwelling location at the time of their release, as recorded by The Irish Prison Service. Table 1.3 (Prison reoffending, 2019) provides the most recent statistics of the one-year reoffending rates of individuals classified by their county of residence at the time of their release. Statistics of one-year reoffending rates for individuals released from custody in 2020 is scheduled for publication shortly (11thJuly 2023).
Table 1.3 Individuals released from custody classified by 1-year re-offending indicator and county1, 2019
Re-offence within one year | Re-offending2 rate | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Regional Authority Area/County | Yes | No | Total | % |
State | 1,794 | 2,232 | 4,026 | 44.6 |
Border | 68 | 108 | 176 | 38.6 |
Cavan | 19 | 29 | 48 | 39.6 |
Donegal | 13 | 28 | 41 | 31.7 |
Leitrim | 8 | 8 | 16 | 50.0 |
Monaghan | 21 | 19 | 40 | 52.5 |
Sligo | 7 | 24 | 31 | 22.6 |
Dublin | 627 | 835 | 1,462 | 42.9 |
Mid-East | 152 | 244 | 396 | 38.4 |
Kildare | 46 | 71 | 117 | 39.3 |
Louth | 39 | 51 | 90 | 43.3 |
Meath | 34 | 74 | 108 | 31.5 |
Wicklow | 33 | 48 | 81 | 40.7 |
Midland | 97 | 119 | 216 | 44.9 |
Laois | 30 | 45 | 75 | 40.0 |
Longford | 23 | 14 | 37 | 62.2 |
Offaly | 17 | 24 | 41 | 41.5 |
Westmeath | 27 | 36 | 63 | 42.9 |
Mid-West | 198 | 204 | 402 | 49.3 |
Clare | 41 | 51 | 92 | 44.6 |
Limerick | 101 | 104 | 205 | 49.3 |
Tipperary | 56 | 49 | 105 | 53.3 |
South-East | 134 | 148 | 282 | 47.5 |
Carlow | 29 | 28 | 57 | 50.9 |
Kilkenny | 22 | 20 | 42 | 52.4 |
Waterford | 37 | 37 | 74 | 50.0 |
Wexford | 46 | 63 | 109 | 42.2 |
South-West | 281 | 255 | 536 | 52.4 |
Cork | 234 | 220 | 454 | 51.5 |
Kerry | 47 | 35 | 82 | 57.3 |
West | 79 | 110 | 189 | 41.8 |
Galway | 57 | 71 | 128 | 44.5 |
Mayo | 9 | 22 | 31 | 29.0 |
Roscommon | 13 | 17 | 30 | 43.3 |
1Offenders with addresses outside the jurisdiction are not included in this analysis at county or regional level but are included in the state figure.
2See background notes.
Francis Noel Duffy (Dublin South West, Green Party)
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98. To ask the Taoiseach if a geographic breakdown of the origin of repeat offenders exists and if so, if he will supply this data. [33914/23]
Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The Central Statistics Office compiles official statistics on Prison and Probation Reoffendingon an annual basis. The CSO does not publish reoffending statistics classified by the geographical origin of repeat offenders. Information relating to the origin of an individual such as their original nationality, citizenship or birth location within Ireland is not available from the Irish Prison or Probation Service or Garda PULSE data that CSO use to compile the reoffending estimates. The Prison and Probation Reoffendingseries provides statistics on the number of individuals that are convicted of reoffending within one and three years of release from custody or probation, classified by both personal and justice related characteristics including offence type, reoffending offence type and dwelling location at the time of release or probation, as recorded by The Irish Prison or Probation Service. Table 1.3 (Prison reoffending, 2019) and Table 2.2 (Probation reoffending, 2018) below provides the most recent statistics of the one-year reoffending rates of individuals classified by their county of residence at the time of their release or probation supervision. Statistics of one-year reoffending rates for individuals released from custody in 2020 is scheduled for publication shortly (11thJuly 2023) and Probation reoffending estimates for 2019 are scheduled for publication in November 2023.
Table 1.3 Individuals released from custody classified by 1-year re-offending indicator and county1, 2019
Re-offence within one year | Re-offending2 rate | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Regional Authority Area/County | Yes | No | Total | % | |
State | 1,794 | 2,232 | 4,026 | 44.6 | |
Border | 68 | 108 | 176 | 38.6 | |
Cavan | 19 | 29 | 48 | 39.6 | |
Donegal | 13 | 28 | 41 | 31.7 | |
Leitrim | 8 | 8 | 16 | 50.0 | |
Monaghan | 21 | 19 | 40 | 52.5 | |
Sligo | 7 | 24 | 31 | 22.6 | |
Dublin | 627 | 835 | 1,462 | 42.9 | |
Mid-East | 152 | 244 | 396 | 38.4 | |
Kildare | 46 | 71 | 117 | 39.3 | |
Louth | 39 | 51 | 90 | 43.3 | |
Meath | 34 | 74 | 108 | 31.5 | |
Wicklow | 33 | 48 | 81 | 40.7 | |
Midland | 97 | 119 | 216 | 44.9 | |
Laois | 30 | 45 | 75 | 40.0 | |
Longford | 23 | 14 | 37 | 62.2 | |
Offaly | 17 | 24 | 41 | 41.5 | |
Westmeath | 27 | 36 | 63 | 42.9 | |
Mid-West | 198 | 204 | 402 | 49.3 | |
Clare | 41 | 51 | 92 | 44.6 | |
Limerick | 101 | 104 | 205 | 49.3 | |
Tipperary | 56 | 49 | 105 | 53.3 | |
South-East | 134 | 148 | 282 | 47.5 | |
Carlow | 29 | 28 | 57 | 50.9 | |
Kilkenny | 22 | 20 | 42 | 52.4 | |
Waterford | 37 | 37 | 74 | 50.0 | |
Wexford | 46 | 63 | 109 | 42.2 | |
South-West | 281 | 255 | 536 | 52.4 | |
Cork | 234 | 220 | 454 | 51.5 | |
Kerry | 47 | 35 | 82 | 57.3 | |
West | 79 | 110 | 189 | 41.8 | |
Galway | 57 | 71 | 128 | 44.5 | |
Mayo | 9 | 22 | 31 | 29.0 | |
Roscommon | 13 | 17 | 30 | 43.3 |
1Offenders with addresses outside the jurisdiction are not included in this analysis at county or regional level but are included in the state figure.
2See background notes.
Table 2.2 Probation re-offending rate by regional authority area and county of residence of offender1, 2018
Re-offence within one year | Re-offending2 rate | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Regional Authority Area/County | Yes | No | Total | % |
State | 1,355 | 3,644 | 4,999 | 27 |
Border | 112 | 371 | 483 | 23 |
Cavan | 44 | 122 | 166 | 27 |
Donegal | 25 | 131 | 156 | 16 |
Leitrim | 3 | 12 | 15 | 20 |
Monaghan | 24 | 73 | 97 | 25 |
Sligo | 16 | 33 | 49 | 33 |
Dublin | 432 | 1103 | 1,535 | 28 |
Mid-East | 94 | 363 | 457 | 21 |
Kildare | 23 | 97 | 120 | 15 |
Louth | 29 | 108 | 137 | 29 |
Meath | 11 | 45 | 56 | 31 |
Wicklow | 31 | 113 | 144 | 26 |
Midland | 85 | 265 | 350 | 28 |
Laois | 27 | 68 | 95 | 29 |
Longford | 25 | 66 | 91 | 28 |
Offaly | 13 | 67 | 80 | 27 |
Westmeath | 20 | 64 | 84 | 28 |
Mid-West | 177 | 415 | 592 | 34 |
Clare | 35 | 88 | 123 | 31 |
Limerick | 100 | 203 | 303 | 32 |
Tipperary | 42 | 124 | 166 | 39 |
South-East | 151 | 401 | 552 | 28 |
Carlow | 27 | 76 | 103 | 22 |
Kilkenny | 43 | 98 | 141 | 33 |
Waterford | 46 | 98 | 144 | 27 |
Wexford | 35 | 129 | 164 | 29 |
South-West | 227 | 474 | 701 | 34 |
Cork | 215 | 423 | 638 | 34 |
Kerry | 12 | 51 | 63 | 29 |
West | 76 | 242 | 318 | 23 |
Galway | 53 | 141 | 194 | 30 |
Mayo | 12 | 58 | 70 | 10 |
Roscommon | 11 | 43 | 54 | 12 |
1Offenders with addresses outside the jurisdiction are not included in this analysis.
2See background notes.
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