Calls to cut prison numbers more to protect from Covid-19

Irish Penal Reform Trust executive director, Fíona Ní Chinnéide: “While much remains unknown about Covid-19, we do know that the virus will remain in the community for quite some time.”

Measures to reduce the prison population, including the granting of bail and continued early release, must be “ramped up” to uphold minimum human rights standards and protect prisons from Covid-19, penal reformers say.

The calls were made after a court ruled that a decision by prison authorities to keep an inmate in his cell for 24 hours a day was justified given the challenges faced by the Irish Prison Service in having so many prisoners ’’cocooning’’ or in isolation.

The Irish Penal Reform Trust said that if this is the case the IPS and Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan need to “accelerate” actions to reduce prison numbers, including a presumption of bail for those charged with offences, the imposition of non-custodial sanctions for those convicted and appropriate early release of sentenced prisoners.

“While much remains unknown about Covid-19, we do know that the virus will remain in the community for quite some time,” said IPRT executive director, Fíona Ní Chinnéide.

Responses that rely on lock-up for extended periods will exacerbate fears and tensions and increase the risk of violent incidents in prison.

"This is in addition to the serious risk to health that an outbreak of Covid-19 in crowded prisons would present.”

She said that social distancing is almost impossible to achieve within normal operating capacity of prisons: “The number of prisoners in the prison population (3,843 as 14 April 2020) is still far above the number of operational cells (3,149 as of 16 April 2019), meaning that many prisoners do not have access to single cells."

“A further reduction in the prison population is essential in order to achieve a safe level of occupancy and protect both the health of the prison community and the communities that prisoners and staff return to," Ms Ní Chinnéide added.

She said the “churn of people processed through the prison system must be reduced” and that there should be a presumption against committing people to prison for offences that attract terms of less than 12 months: “Short-term custodial sentences are widely ineffective at any time, but in the context of Covid-19 could result in grave consequences.

"The 2014 cross-agency Strategic Review of Penal Policy recommended that imprisonment be regarded as a sanction of last resort in Ireland.”

She said that pre-trial detention should be used as an “an exceptional measure, with bail only denied in the most serious of cases”.

The IPRT also called for “guaranteed access” to jails for the Office of the Inspector of Prisons in order to protect against human rights violations during the period.

Prison sources said earlier this month that they had “nearly exhausted” possibilities in terms of releasing early any more prisoners serving less than a 12-month sentence, saying that 292 inmates have been given temporary release since March 11.

The total number of prisoners on temporary release has actually reduced in recent weeks, from 600 on 3 April to 556 on 14 April.

The number of prisoners in custody has remained unchanged in that period, standing at 3,843.