Screened prison visits should be scrapped: report

Screened visits should be scrapped and greater use of temporary or ‘home’ leave should be introduced for prisoners to help maintain relationships with family members, according to a report.

The study, by the Irish Penal Reform Trust, revealed that, based on the 2005 prison population, there are an estimated 4,300 children with a father in prison at any time, and approximately 142 mothers.

However, in some cases, the children are not told of the reality of the situation, and instead told their father has “gone to work”.

Having a parent in prison also doubles the chances of a child having mental health issues and increases their chances of engaging in criminal behaviour, as well as opening them up to the possibility of bullying in schools.

The report shows that in some cases children had discovered their parent was in prison only from others in school, or from the internet.

The report, written by Michelle Martyn of the IPRT, makes recommendations, including:

* setting up an agency to provide information and support to families affected

* a charter of rights for children

* focussing on the best interests of the child, including where a parent is on remand or sentenced

* training for gardaí and awareness training for judges

* child impact statements in courts

* a record of the number of children with a parent in prison at any one time

* special family visits with greater use of sniffer dogs to weed out drug smuggling during visits.

The report was launched by Children’s Ombudsman Emily Logan and IPRT executive director Liam Herrick who said while prisoners’ rights were usually a controversial issue, “in these cases there were the rights of people [the children] who have committed no crime”.

Larry De Clear, leader with the Bedford Row Project in Limerick, said for every euro invested in prisoners and their family the social dividend was €5.56.

Theresa Clarke, who manages the visitor centres in Mountjoy and Cloverhill for St Vincent de Paul and the Quakers, where families are supported before and after official visits, said funding cutbacks had meant voluntary redundancies and the cutting of childcare for visiting families.

There were also calls for Norwegian style ‘home leave’, where prisoners satisfy certain criteria once a portion of their sentence has been completed and receive a certain number of days at home during the year.

* www.iprt.ie