Chaplains' Damning Verdict on Prison Reform

Edited 30.11.10

What does the Leader think of what the prison chaplains have said in recent days? When the State’s prison chaplains say current prison policy is a disaster, they have to be taken seriously. When they say conditions in many prisons are an insult to the dignity of any human being and an affront to the basic tenets of decency, does the Leader not think we should take them seriously?

When the prison chaplains point out that at one point last year 129 prisoners did not even have a bed to sleep in and some did not even have a mattress to sleep on, does the Leader not think we should take them seriously?

I ask a Leader for a debate on the matter. The prison chaplains who are honest brokers and do not have a political agenda have pointed out that some of the attacks that took place on prisoners last year were fatal. Why is the Ombudsman for Children explicitly prohibited from investigating complaints and allegations made by young people in St. Patrick’s Institution? Why is it the case that employees of the State are involved in leaking stories to the media, for example, on the whereabouts of Larry Murphy when he was released last year? Whatever one may think about his atrocious crimes, the State has a duty of care to ensure the Irish Prison Service operates in a responsible fashion. Why would the Minister for Justice and Law Reform not even meet the prison chaplains when they issued their report last year?

Does the Leader agree that whatever about the Government’s general political legacy, it has shown little desire to view prison and prisoners as anything more than a numbers game and that there has been an attempt to consider our justice systemnot as a way to create a better society but merely as a method of punishment? Will we not reap the rewards of that in future years if we fail to rehabilitate people?