Integrated Sentence Management
The Irish Prison Service is currently developing and piloting a fully co-ordinated Integrated Sentence Management (ISM) System.
ISM will involve a new orientation in the delivery of services to prisoners and a new emphasis on prisoners taking greater personal responsibility for their own development through active engagement with both specialist and non-specialist services in the prisons. The end result will be a prisoner-centred, multidisciplinary approach to working with prisoners with provision for initial assessment, goal setting and periodic review to measure progress.
It is envisaged that newly committed prisoners with sentences of greater than one year will become eligible to take part in ISM. Under current proposals, prisoners with a sentence of one year and up to four years will take part in the standard ISM process while prisoners with a sentence of four years or more will take part in the enhanced ISM process. In addition to those serving four years plus, part-suspended sentence prisoners and sex offenders with post-release supervision orders will be included in the enhanced ISM process even if they have a sentence of less than four years.
Piloting and roll out of ISM
Arbour Hill and Wheatfield prisons have been selected as pilot sites to test the ISM process. Multi-disciplinary teams in both prisons identified prisoners to take part in the pilot. The prisoners selected are representative of a range of sentence lengths and a variety of offences. Considerable progress has been made in developing systems, procedures and capacities, including assessment tools, information systems, role specifications, training and offender programmes.
It is envisaged that the pilot will be completed in the two prisons during 2009. A process action evaluation and review will take place and any necessary adjustments to the ISM process will be made. It is envisaged that ISM will be mainstreamed in these two prisons before the end of the year. This will mean that newly sentenced committals (with sentences of greater than one year) will be offered the opportunity to take part in ISM.
Following the mainstreaming of the pilot in Arbour Hill and Wheatfield, it is intended that ISM will be rolled out to all prisons on a phased basis in accordance with the availability of resources.
ISM Pilot Process Model
Assessment
Newly sentenced committals with sentences of one year or greater to be assessed within 72 hours. This First Contact Assessment will identify the needs of the prisoner in several areas such as accommodation, education and offending behaviour. Referrals will be made on foot of this assessment to services within the prison such as Education or Work & Training and outside agencies providing an in-reach prison service. These services and agencies will carry out their own assessment of the prisoner and feed their recommended actions back to the ISM Officer.
Personal Integration Plan
The various actions recommended will then be compiled into a Personal Integration Plan (PIP). This is a plan of actions for the prisoner to complete during his/her time in prison. Those prisoners taking part in enhanced ISM will also be subject to a risk assessment carried out by either the Probation or Psychology Service.
Review
The PIP will be reviewed every six months for participants of standard ISM through a review meeting process between the ISM Officer and the prisoner with written reports feeding in from the services/agencies involved in his/her PIP.
Participants in enhanced ISM will have his/her PIP reviewed on an annual basis through a case conference which will be attended by the prisoner, ISM Officer and representatives of the services/agencies involved in the PIP. The risk factors, treatment needs and strengths identified by the risk assessment will continue to be monitored during the prisoner’s sentence.
Pre-release
Approximately 9 months prior to the release of the prisoner, a Community Integration Plan (CIP) will be developed. This will set out a plan for the prisoner to prepare for his/her release. Important issues such as accommodation, employment or education will be addressed to help the prisoner resettle into the community upon release and reduce the risk of re-offending.
Irish Prison Service
IDA Business Park,
Ballinalee Road, Longford,
Co. Longford
+353 43 3335100 Fax: +353 43 3335101
Email: info@irishprisons.ie
www.irishprisons.ie
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