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PRISONERS SHOULD BE given greater access to more ways of contacting their families, a report on the future of Ireland’s prison system has recommended.
According to the Progress in the Penal System report by the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT), both imprisoned parents and their children benefit from increased and varied contact.
The organisation would like to see better access to phone calls and permission for prisoners to use a video messaging service such as Skype to see their family – something that is not permitted currently.
Currently, prisoners are allowed one monitored call a week to a family member or friend. If the prisoner is under 18 years old, they may make two calls per week.
“I saw a female prisoner who when her children came to visit, she wasn’t allowed to touch them,” Deirdre Malone, executive director of the IPRT, told TheJournal.ie.
When you’re a little child, that’s a huge way to preserve those bonds with your family. Those kind of rules can really break down those relationships.
She said that children’s experiences of going to visit their parents are significantly affected by being searched when they go in, seeing the sniffer dogs and prison officers in uniform. Many feel scared.
“The really interesting thing is that when dads continue their relationship with their kids, they’re less likely to reoffend,” says Malone.
If they can chat to their child when they come home from school about their homework, it has a huge impact on dads – it’s less likely that those dads will return to prison because they have an incentive.
She says that having a job to maintain, a family to provide for or a relationship to focus on helps give prisoners “something to work towards” on release, and makes them less likely to reoffend.
“If you have a family you need to provide for, they’re the things that give people hope. Anything that breaks down those things can be destructive.”
Although data on the number of children with a parent in prison is not collected in Ireland, it’s estimated that there are around 6,000 children with either a mother or father in jail at any one time.
The IPRT is also recommending that better supports are made available for children who have a parent in prison, citing mental health and educational programmes.
In July, the Irish Prison Service committed to ensuring that all visiting conditions across the estate are child-friendly within 12 months.
Prisons in Ireland
There are 14 prisons in Ireland, which hold a population of around 3,500 prisoners. That figure is steadily decreasing.
Between January 2014 and September 2016, 73 prisoners were hospitalised because of actual or suspected assaults; and 34 of these incidents occurred in Mountjoy Prison (that’s 47%).
Around 76 ‘Category A’ complaints were made by prisoners in 2016, with the largest number of them coming from Midlands Prison.
Malone says that overall, there is a need to see what is causing people to commit crimes in the first place to prevent it from happening – without “getting political”.
“In Norway, it’s expected that when people leave prison, they go back to their communities, equipping them with the tools and supports they need when they’re released.”
“A more sophisticated look at why crime happens is needed… there’s a sense that you either care about victims or you care about offenders, but that isn’t really the case.”
She said a look at both the victims and the perpetrators of crime is the most important thing.
Mental health and addiction treatment
Other than a greater emphasis on supports for prisoners’ families and the ongoing problem with overcrowding in prison, a better approach was needed towards helping treat prisoners with mental health problems or drug addictions.
Around 85% of women who are in prison suffer from addiction issues, compared to 70% of men.
Malone says that addiction is a ”hugely significant issue”, and efforts should be made to divert people with drug and alcohol problems away from the criminal systems. The IPRT are advocating for treatment services within prisons, drug free wings, reducing waiting lists for treatment and additional resources for post release addiction services.
“Somebody may have access to good support within the prison system, but if there’s no access upon their release, then all that good work will be wasted,” Malone says.
This year, between 20-30 people are in prison are awaiting a transfer to the Central Mental Hospital at any given time.
That’s an ongoing issue for us – prison is used as a warehouse for holding people with serious mental health issues. They should be transferred as soon as possible.
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Or don’t commit the crimes and just meet them as frequently as you like.
@George Oscar Bluth: But they had rough upbringings.. It’s not their fault.
@George Oscar Bluth: victims benefit greatly from not being victimized. It takes so much to even get a jail sentence! Does punishment mean nothing now?
Of course they should have Skype….after they are released and pay for the devices themselves.
@Rodger 5: I have no problem letting them have access to Skype, the old fasioned ‘Prison Skype’ that is, where they sit down with a pen and paper and write a damn letter. If they don’t like it, don’t break the law – or become a banker.
No no no.i get to use skype because i work hard and earn a living and Pay for it myself.prisoners do sweet fa, pay for sweet fa, So they deserve sweet fa.
@Red hurley: Skype is a free service. I use it and have never paid a penny.
@Weldoninhio: yeah the internet is free alright
Prisoners SHOULD be given a ball and chain and maybe access to the news channel… if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime… Prison is a holiday camp for some…
@Daniel Morrissey: fact – i saw for myself Castlebar prison – PlayStations and DVD players in the cells. Guys roaring and laughing in the gym getting good and strong for their next attack on the rural elderly. Made me puke. Maybe society should be asked if there should be any punishment for crime at all because our decision makers are making them more like boarding schools.
@Ranty McCrank: TVs in the cells make for a more contented and manageable prison population. Ask the prison officers what they think and they’ll tell you. ‘They all go to their celsd good as gold to watch Corrie’ one told me. Imagine the boredom. Most of these guys are not the type to do Open University degrees or write books. Being deprived of liberty is pretty tough. TVs help make it bearable.
@Squiddley Diddley: the ability to go for a few pints with your mates also makes prison time easier!
@Squiddley Diddley: so do Valium’s and handing out money but you are there as a punishment – the objective is not to make life easy for prison officers
They will be looking for extensions on there cells next ….ffs …..this is taking the biscuit
Putting the joy, in mount joy.
Who says crime doesn’t pay? By being homesick surely that makes for an incentive not to go back.
Too easy for messages to be passed on visually that could be used to commit further crimes. Not as easy to monitor
If they weren’t in there in the first place they wouldn’t need Skype . Such a neck they put a giraffe to shame
According to the article, the prison population is decreasing…probably due to more and more ridiculously lean sentencing. “Oh you held up a Spar? Says here you were only allowed a PS3 two years after everyone had one. 10 hours community service. Next”
Why is this even up for discussion. Forget Skype, bring in chain gangs.
So when do prisoner’s get their own personal chef so that they can be sure that their diet is correct . More PC brigade bs
A shure let them go home and save the bandwidth. Ridiculous! As the saying goes, if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.
I’m sure some of them would use their children to bring in drugs.
NO.
Predictable set of comments so far.
Prison doesn’t work. Prisoners get released and usually reoffend. Why not try learning from countries with a better rate of recidivism, for a change?
@Ben McArthur: Then don’t release them. If they are still locked up they won’t be burgling my granny
@Ben McArthur: How about longer sentences as a deterrent? Most prisoners spend a couple of years for their crimes. Far too lenient.
@Ser Barristan Selmy: Except it does. It is proven in Norway by the lower rate of recidivism.
If you only punish them without providing any training or skill sets, what do you think they’re going to do when they’re eventually released and can’t find a job?
@meatyslaps: @meatyslaps: But its not comparing like with like. Norway has a higher standard of living, lower unemployment rate,higher salaries, lower rate of crime. Most of the crimes commited are drug related. Wheras if you let our filth stay at the likes of Bastøy thed have a field day. Id give it 2 weeks before the army would have to be called in.
What the prisoners deserve or don’t deserve is arguable. However, as a taxpaying member of society, I deserve that money spent on the criminal justice system results in less crime – if that means Skype and child friendly facilities so prisoners feel connected to society, I’ll live with that.
These muppets are supposed to be doing prison sentences, not in a holiday camp. Gruel, water and a blanket should be all they are entitled to. Skype me hole.
Well let them but make them earn it, like two weeks good behaviour, five mins on the Skype in a controlled monitored environment
Firstly the article is incorrect when it states inmates only get 1 phone call a week. Depending on level (Privileged, Standard or Basic) on average each inmate will get 1 six minute phone call per day (Standard Level) they also have unlimited phone access to the Samaritans, and a call to their legal representative is not counted as one call. Secondly each phone call made from a prison phone is monitored and numbers can be removed from an inmates calling list for security reasons. Using Skype would make it extremely difficult monitor and control calls as the receiver can open multiple channels to others on their end. Just because inmates are in Prison it does not prevent them trying to run criminal their enterprises. This would make it so much easier.
@Mick Jordan: they already have smartphones with WhatsApp which is encrypted. a programme like Skype, where it runs through the prison data lines, can use monitoring software. Install mobile phone jammers in the prisons and hey presto, regained control
@Andrew Mockler: What they have are “illegal Smart Phones” of which they can get up to 2 years added to their current sentence when fight with one. And you said it yourself Skype is encrypted. And such be impossible for authorities to monitor third party calls from the receivers end. Prime example. A convicted paedophile calls his pal. Who in turn connects to an other. The Third player shows images of kids to our jail bird via his pals link. Unless there was an Officer monitoring each and every Skype call it would make the Prison complicit in his offending as they provided the facilities for him to offend. And as these calls would be in addition to normal visits it would require more staff. Something that is at a premium right now.
That’s a disgrace
That’s hardly news. So what if the WANT Skype. They can’t have it, and anyone who thinks it’s a good idea to gift them it, should be rightfully condemned. Now if that was a headline that said the authorities were giving them all Skype accounts, then that would be something to get our knickers in a twist over.
Get the boat… what kind of a soft touch country we have become to even consider this BS.
er no, make do with your phone call and visits…
It’s prison not Trabolgan……
isn’t this a UK story?
the last thing the prison service should be doing is giving them a Gangland chat hotline.
but they already have mobiles so it won’t make a difference.
I can see why it was thought about, prison isn’t a place for children. it makes it normal for them growing up. how many young offenders have had parents locked up?overseas family members in prison would benefit. like visiting hours rooms there could be a skype room set up for this. To proponents, the video systems provide a more convenient, safer, thriftier alternative to in-person visits. Some jurisdictions even make money, by charging for the video visits.
F OFF. breaking rocks all day, working doing something, not sitting round smoking rollies all day
Talking about Skype? do they even all have flush toilets yet?
@Maurice Bourke: Yes, and have done for years.
Aaaaahhhhh
Next the poor chaps will want to go home every day for their dinner and tea break , ffs don’t go to prison in the first place all Ye misfortunes ! Skype …. don’t make me laugh
Nonsense. If you can’t do the time, don’t commit the crime.
have your say