Our prison system - Obligations that don’t ever go away
Some difficulties that cause huge, transgenerational failure in society — inevitably in the poorest and least-educated communities — cannot be resolved without an increased share of state resources, even though our capacity to meet those obligations diminishes almost by the day. One of those failures is how we run our prison system and the deeply negative impact that has on so many inmates.
In his first interim report as the new inspector of prisons, Judge Michael Reilly has expressed deep concern over overcrowding, the prevalence of drug abuse and violence in our jails. He has also, in a finding that indicts us all, expressed concern about the denial of rights to inmates suffering from a mental illness.
Just as his predecessor Mr Justice Dermot Kinlen, who died in July, 2007, did for many years, Judge Reilly has reported on a situation he found “simply not tolerable”. Indeed, he has been so disturbed that he took the unusual step of compiling an interim report, which has been published by the Department of Justice on its website. He expects to publish his first full report next year.
It would be wonderful if we could look forward to that publication with the hope it might lead to the changes it will suggest but, as Judge Kinlen found to his repeated disappointment, change comes slowly, if at all, unless there is a powerful political need for it.
There is no likelihood of a Fianna Fáil backbencher — or any other politician for that matter — quitting over the issue. There is no likelihood of any great street demonstrations demanding rights for prisoners. Neither is there the prospect of anyone grabbing a microphone from a minister and passionately telling them that they should be ashamed because our prisons are crowded and often dangerous places. The status quo, or something very like it, will remain the daily reality for the thousands of people held in our jails. We, even when we had the money, were slow to confront these issues, so it is unlikely we can expect any great improvement now. But we should be clear what we are endorsing by acceptance.
Judge Reilly insisted that prisoners with mental health problems had an “absolute right” to proper treatment, but that this was not happening. We have people in prison, albeit a minority, because they are sick and we are doing nothing or very little to cure them. Can we be surprised if they offend again? Surely that represents a double betrayal, firstly of the victim of the crime and secondly to the person who commits the crime.
As another story published today shows, the consequences of a struggling justice system are plain to see. New Department of Justice figures show that nearly 90,000 crimes, including 43 murders and 68 sexual offences, were committed over the past four years by suspects while on bail. These are startling figures but are no more than another manifestation of our failure to put effective justice and penal systems in place.
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