The Irish Prisons Service today launched its website. The site was officially declared "on-line" by the Chairman of the Prisons Authority Interim Board, Mr. Brian McCarthy, Chairman of Fexco. The site represents a further step in the ongoing process of establishing a new identity for the Service which is due to become an separate agency within the next year to 18 months. The relevant legislation is currently in progress.
The prisons website was delivered as part of an overall IT development programme for the prisons currently being delivered by a consortium headed by ICL. The site was designed by Osarius, a Belfast based internet solutions provider. Osarius is a joint venture between ICL and the University of Ulster.
The site which is accessible at www.irishprisons.ie, is designed to give the public a brief insight into the country's Prisons Service. The design brief was to produce a site which would interest the public while still reflecting the serious nature of the work carried out by the service. This was not an easy task. It is planned to further expand the content over the coming months, based on suggestions from the public and other initiatives currently underway.
The overall Prisons IT Progamme is well advanced. A new wide area network has just been completed, linking the country' 17 institutions. This was put in place by Eircom with hardware from Siemens, cabling from CARA and consultancy by PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
A batch of new systems is coming onstream, via the ICL consortium. These include the first comprehensive Prisoner Records System (ICL), Time & Attendance (Softworks) , Prisoner Medical Records (Irish Medical Systems), Document Management (E-Blana), Financial Management (ICL/Oracle) and Lock & Key Tracking (IME). Further developments will include implementation of the Peoplesoft HR system. The overall IT programme, which is due for completion in 2001 represents a successful collaboration of external suppliers and in house IT Staff. It will take the prisons from a position of almost entirely manual operation to one where information technology will become an essential part of each officers work.
Commenting on the Website development and the new IT system in the prisons, official spokesman Jim Mitchell said "Irish Prisons were run on Victorian lines in terms of communications and record keeping until very recently. The new developments bring the system from the 19th to the 21st century in one bound". |
