Reformers and inspector clash over privatising prisons

Cormac O'Keeffe

The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) severely criticised the inspector, Mr Justice Dermot Kinlen, saying he had no authority to speak on the issue.

Executive director of IPRT, Rick Lines, said: “The Prison Inspector has no mandate to comment on the issue of prison privatisation.

In making recommendations in favour of privatisation, the inspector significantly oversteps the Terms of Reference of his office.”

In his Third Annual Report, Mr Kinlen called for privatisation of one prison on a “trial basis” and the eventual opening up of the prison service to private competition.

Mr Lines said that even if the inspector did possess an appropriate mandate to comment on privatisation, his recommendation was not supported by evidence.

“There is no independent academic comparative research showing that private companies deliver prison service at less cost than the public service, and this claim is contested by government and independent reports from numerous countries.

“Therefore, the Prison Inspector’s claims of cost savings through privatisation are unsubstantial,” he said.

Publishing an IPRT report on the issue, Mr Lines said the operational evidence of private prisons was at best mixed.

He said most arguments used to support the measure were based almost exclusively on information from the private prisons industry or by British business lobbyists who support the idea.

Mr Lines called on Justice Minister Michael McDowell to make “a firm and unequivocal commitment” against privatising prisons.

He said Mr McDowell had previously announced he was considering privatising new ‘super’ prisons in Dublin and Cork.