Mick Clifford: TDs call for more capacity in prisons displays ignorance of penal policy

With Fine Gael languishing in the polls, one TD pulled out the old reliable law-and-order card, writes Mick Clifford

Surely the increasing numbers being locked up is a sign of failure to properly address crime and particularly the causes of crime.

What do you do when the polls aren’t going your way? Draw a kick at somebody, anybody, to try to remind the great unwashed that you are the man.

On bank holiday Monday Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond issued a press release calling for more prison places.

“In order to keep our communities and our prisons safe, it is vital that our justice system is operational in full,” he said. “To do that, we must ensure that we have sufficient capacity in our prisons to ensure they are safe environments for inmates but also to ensure our communities are kept safe, with justice brought to criminals as soon as possible.”

He went on to note that the number of people in custody was on the rise.

“With an increase of 44% from 2,763 in 1999 to 3,971 in 2019, we need to ensure that capacity is secured. With Minister for Justice Helen McEntee bringing forward reforms to ensure that we have stronger sentences for serious crimes, we must have sufficient capacity in our prisons to ensure capacity is not a factor when deciding sentences.”

Mr Richmond obviously hasn’t got a clue about penal policy — or at least he presents himself as not having a clue — because such positioning might help him adopt the dog-eared pose of ‘tough on crime’.

When did a judge ever decide not to impose a prison sentence on a serious criminal because of capacity issues?

Mr Richmond appears to be suggesting that judges might refrain from handing down a term of incarceration because there are not enough prison places.

Then there is his heralding of the rising rates of imprisonment over the last 20 years as if this is a good thing or at least reassuring in terms of tackling crime.

Surely the increasing numbers being locked up is a sign of failure to properly address crime and particularly the causes of crime. That may not be of huge interest in the leafy suburbs of Dublin Rathdown represented by Mr Richmond but it is a major issue for society as a whole.

Mr Richmond made his intervention on a weekend in which the latest opinion poll showed Fine Gael languishing in a trough. According to the Business Post/Red C poll published last Sunday, Sinn Féin is at a record support level of 34% while Fine Gael is at 21%.

What to do about the continuing encroachment into middle Ireland of the Shinners? Pull out the old reliable law-and-order card. Lock ’em up and throw away the key.

Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond appears to be suggesting that judges might refrain from handing down a term of incarceration because there are not enough prison places. File picture: Gareth Chaney

There is no qualitative research done by any mainstream source that claims more prison places lead to safer streets. If anything, the safest communities are those in societies where an enlightened penal policy is adopted.

So what about the existing system in this country, which Mr Richmond wants to see expanded?

In recent weeks, a number of different issues in relation to prisons have come to the fore that would place huge question marks beside any attempt to put more offenders behind bars.

Short-term sentences

At the recent Prison Officers’ Association (POA) annual conference, Irish Prison Service director general Caron McCaffrey addressed the issue of short-term sentences. She said little could be done to rehabilitate prisoners serving less than a year, a cohort that accounts for around 80% of the 4,000 inmates in the State.

“If you come to us for less than 12 months, we’re unlikely to be in a position to help you deal with your addiction… or mental illness, or mental health issues,” she told the conference. “We’re not going to be able to give you a skill, so that means you are not more employable upon release. We’re not in a position to give you an education course.”

By Mr Richmond’s reasoning, there should be even more people in this cohort serving sentences, which cost around €80,000 per prisoner per annum. That’s apart from the acceptance of the head of the service that many of those incarcerated on short sentences have mental health issues.

During the same week that the POA conference was taking place, it also emerged that a major report into practices in the Dóchas Centre women’s prison is not going to be published.

As first reported in this newspaper, serious issues have arisen in the women’s prison to the extent that the justice minister ordered a statutory investigation by the Inspector of Prisons.

These include the manipulation of prisoners by some staff members and the use of prisoners by some staff to target other staff members.

Now Ms McEntee is saying that the report of the investigation is so serious that her advice is not to publish it.

However, what about the prisoners and staff who have been hugely affected by these issues? Are they just expected to stay shtum and put up with it because it might cause too much controversy to air what’s going on in an institution charged not just with detaining the women but caring for their welfare?

On another front, research published last week by the Irish Penal Reform Trust shows that non-Irish-born and non-white defendants receive longer sentences for some crimes than those who are Irish born. The study, the first of its kind in the State, found that foreign nationals and minority ethnic communities are over-represented in prison and that members of these groups face “significant challenges across the system”.

There has been nary a peep from mainstream politics, and certainly not from Fine Gael reps, in response to this research, to the outcome of the Dóchas debacle, to the head of the prison service’s conclusion that there is practically no cost-benefit — for society or the exchequer — in imprisoning for minor offences. Instead, we have Mr Richmond storming the ramparts to demand more prison places. Lock ’em up and hunt down the cheap votes.

Unfortunately, the sad reality is that he is just a half step ahead of a good share of the whole body politic when it comes to penal policy.