Prisons are warehouses for the vulnerable

PRISONS have become “warehouses for the vulnerable” offering little or no hope to many inmates, it was claimed yesterday.

Radical changes to the justice system are needed to protect human rights, the National Prison Chaplains (NPC) said, as it presented its annual report to Justice Minister Michael McDowell yesterday.

The group is very concerned about “the slow rate of progress” in improving prison conditions.

“We have not seen an adequate investment in those who are in prison. We would like to see more emphasis on the building of people rather than the current emphasis on the building of prisons,” NPC spokesperson Fr Ciaran Enright said.

The group is demanding an end to “slopping out” and they believe prisoners should be allowed shower more than once a week.

Chaplains want padded cells to be replaced by special prison care units with observation cells.

The religious group is also worried that an increasing number of mentally ill patients are being imprisoned and they’re calling on the Government to provide care for these people.

All prisoners must be allowed to attend family funerals and non-nationals awaiting deportation should not be held in prisons, the chaplains said.

Prison counselling services are inadequate and some inmates have to wait years to see a psychologist, said Fr Enright: “In many ways prisons have become warehouses for the vulnerable, offering little or no hope to many of those imprisoned there, or indeed to the wider community that may be under the illusion that imprisonment will effect real change.”

The NPC wants community-based drug treatment programmes used as an alternative to custodial sentences.

“We recommend the extension of support programmes within the prisons and an increase in the number of drug counsellors available. We further recommend the on-going training of prison staff to work on addiction programmes,” the group’s annual report said.

The chaplains are concerned about methadone programmes for addicts and want the system to be evaluated.

On the controversial issue of sex crimes the chaplains want more rehabilitation programmes for the 350 male sex offenders in prison.

Adolescent sex offenders should not be sent to all-male adult prisons, the chaplains believe.

The group is urging the Government to build more open prisons which it claims will benefit offenders and the community: “We recommend that the Irish Prison Service would immediately begin to plan the development of more open and semi-open units within existing buildings.”