Mr. Ian O’Donnell, professor of criminology in University College Dublin, recently wrote in the Irish Times that treatment of prisoners needs to be transparent so that acceptable standards are met and individuals who end up in prison can maintain the hope for rehabilitation. What ensures transparency is independent monitoring and an effective system through which imprisoned people can raise concerns and complaints. However, external monitoring is insufficient in the Irish prison system, he claims. The fifth Irish Penal Reform Trust’s Progress in the Penal System report was published on Monday the 7th of February and gauges the progress towards meeting human rights and best practices in the Irish penal system made between the start of the project, 2017, and 2021. The report actually shows that a regression in standards has taken place.
The average number of people in prison has increased since 2017, and no legislative commitment has been made to support the ideology of imprisonment as a last resort. Regress was registered in single-cell accommodation and out of cell time. The number of people in solitary confinement increased. There was insufficient data to draw conclusions on the issues of education, life-skills, family contact, community engagement, and women in prison.
No progress was made in the mental health treatment of prisoners, as there are still large numbers of people waiting to be transferred to the Central Mental Hospital, and the ratio of psychologists to prisoners did not increase either. The report also found that options for drug and alcohol treatment are still lacking. There has been no increase in the provision of open prisons, and there still is no open facility for women facing incarceration. The only area where progress has been made was reintegration in the community post-incarceration, as some expansion of legislation on spent convictions was registered, along with educational and training pilot schemes. However, there are still considerable concerns around housing provision and mental health support services post-release.
Mr. O’Donnell also wrote that visiting committees have too few members, between 2 and 6, while legislation requires between 6 and 12 members. This insufficiency does not allow for effective monitoring. He also noted the reduced length of prisoner reports, or a complete lack of them, which suggests no substantial engagement with the prisoners’ issues and quality of life is being made.
Furthermore, people in prison still have no access to the Ombudsman, despite recommendations from the Whitaker Committee of Inquiry into the Penal System in 1985, which were accepted by the then Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald in 2016, and despite declarations from two other ministers in 2018 that discussions to establish an efficient complaints system were taking place. The Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture, a human rights convention aimed at preventing mistreatment of incarcerated individuals is yet to be ratified in Ireland, despite the country having signed up to it in 2007. The United Kingdom, by contrast, has signed and ratified it in 2003. Mr. O'Donnell described this lack of action as “shameful”, and emphasised that monitoring is necessary to protect the humanity of “those among us who end up in prison”.
The full IPRT Report can be read by clicking HERE.
Original article by Mr. O'Donnell appeared in the Irish Times and can be viewed HERE.