Labour outlines detailed plans to overhaul penal system

PRISON will be used as a last resort for acts of crime while the number of criminals behind bars will be reduced under plans published by the Labour Party which denied it would be “soft on crime”.

Justice spokesman Pat Rabbitte claimed the Fianna Fáil solution has been to “throw more law” at crime and introduce tougher laws. But he asked: “Has it made our society more safe? Has it made people more secure?”

He said: “We do have to question whether imprisonment is being over-used where it isn’t necessary in our system currently.”

Mr Rabbitte said while Labour’s proposals may not be popular, the party is facing up to the reality that the current penal system is “neither fair, just, nor value for money”.

The proposals contained in the party’s policy document, A Fair and Effective Penal System include:

* A new Sentencing Act for judges, based on imprisonment as an option of last resort.

* A requirement for district court judges to explain in writing decisions to send people to jail.

* A new independent prison authority to oversee basic standards and conditions in prisons.

* A more formal use of “day release” for selected prisoners.

* More and smaller prisons built on the basis of a geographical breakdown of criminals and prisoners.

* An immediate cessation of the imprisonment of children at St Patrick’s Institution, which Labour described as “a clear violation of Ireland’s human rights obligations”.

* More garda juvenile liaison officers and more resources for the HSE to support children and teenagers at risk of becoming involved in crime.

Speaking at the launch of the document, Mr Rabbitte said plans to move prisoners from Mountjoy to the Thornton Hall site in north Dublin would be abandoned by the Labour Party in government.

He said his preference would be to transform the Thornton Hall site into an “open prison” while refurbishing and improving Mountjoy jail which is close to the city centre.

It recently emerged €43.3 million has been spent on the site, which includes a surrounding wall and road, but no contractor is in place to build the main jail.

Mr Rabbitte said the unfinished “super-prison” project is one of the many “landmines” that Fianna Fáil will deliberately leave behind for the next Government to deal with.

“It’s a real problem,” he said. “It is something that will still require a great deal of examination.”

He said Labour would look at alternative prison uses including “an open-prison model which is shown to be far more beneficial in terms of rehabilitation and dealing with recidivism and reoffending.”

The party said up to 25% of prisoners would be in such prisons if it was in Government.