Ladies and Gentlemen,
This Government has made an unprecedented investment in the Irish Prison system over the past five years. We have invested not just in buildings but also in prison staff and in information technology. Since I took office as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in June 1997, a further 1200 prison spaces have been added to the capacity of the prison system.
Aside from ending unplanned releases of offenders, other substantial benefits and opportunities arise from our Prison building programme. These benefits are all too frequently overlooked. We are now in a position to provide the conditions in which prisoner rehabilitation, through a coherent process of sentence planning, can take place. Programmes for prisoners must be aimed at affording them real opportunities for personal rehabilitation. Yes, we have brought order and stability to the prison system. More importantly, we have created the context in which work and training projects like CONNECT can operate with a reasonable prospect of success.
The pilot stage of the CONNECT project commenced at Mountjoy Prison, the Dochas Centre and the Training Unit in February 1998. It was EU funded and involved collaboration between my Department, the Prison Service and the National Training and Development Institute, which is part of the REHAB Group. The project was developed and brought forward in a manner which involved extensive consultation and partnership both within the Prisons, with the Probation and Prison Education Services and with the wider community.
In November, 2000, following a favourable assessment of the pilot stage I launched the plan for extending the project to all the prisons during the period up to 2006. Today, at Wheatfield Prison, the first action phase of CONNECT is now commencing following an indepth survey of the institution which has been carried out by the National Training and Development Institute and presented to the Governor, Mr. Ned Whelan.
What precisely is the programme content? CONNECT has been designed as an individualised, person centred, employment and social inclusion initiative. It is intended to enable the offender move from welfare to work to allow them to have a positive role in society. The managed prison sentence will, through CONNECT, form the bridge between two ways of life, giving the offender and his or her family a fresh start.
From the beginning of the project, the whole process of engagement with the participants in CONNECT has been around their individual needs and aspirations.
A key feature in the project is the central role of our front-line prison officers. Together with the other agencies, they play a vital mentoring role for all participants and are an essential part of the multi-disciplinary team involved in the process. The multi-disciplinary approach is, in my view, the only way forward in prisoner rehabilitation. This same theme was highlighted in the report about the Re-integration of Prisoners which was prepared by the National Economic and Social Forum and launched recently by the Taoiseach.
In this context, a service level agreement between the Irish Prison Service and the Probation and Welfare Service is due to be concluded shortly to strengthen the co-operation between the two services.
The CONNECT project has made great strides in the Mountjoy complex. It was admittedly on a small scale but achieved striking results. In the pilot stage, 30% of participants who left prison obtained employment or job related training immediately. In my personal view the particular value of this project lies in two key elements: its emphasis on the individual needs, circumstances and capacities of participants and the quality of partnership between the programme team members.
Fortified by the evident success of the pilot stage of the project, I obtained agreement from Government to make a 58 million Euro provision in the National Development Plan for Ireland for its expansion to the rest of the prisons. Indeed, I secured more than that. I also obtained an integrated anti-crime programme in the National Development Plan which would involve the Prisons, the Probation and Welfare Service, the Garda Siochana and the wider community. My sense was that the CONNECT programme would be a cornerstone of tackling crime as it addresses social exclusion through training and employment opportunities.
The National Development Plan funded community based LINKAGE project of the Probation and Welfare Service is also achieving striking success rates in placing ex-prisoners in employment who had participated in Work and Training whilst they were in prison.
Whilst we work together to combat crime through offender rehabilitation, we must never forget the hurt and loss caused to victims of crime. Their pain continues, often for years after the crime event itself. Shortly after taking office, I published a Charter for Victims of Crime and I have asked that the CONNECT project include in its remit the promotion of the Victims Charter among its participants and also on a wider basis among its co-operating agencies.
Empathy is all too often a missing ingredient in a young offenders make-up. Creating empathy as well as honest regret must be a central objective of any prisoner rehabilitation programme.
I want to mention that a recent review by the local chaplains of prisoner services at Wheatfield raised the issue of the housing needs of offenders on release. The chaplains report points to an increased need for inter-agency collaboration in this area. In this regard, the launch of the Homeless Preventative Strategy tomorrow is a clear commitment by the Government to tackle this problem in a planned and co-ordinated way.
Returning to the subject of this function, I want to congratulate Governor Ned Whelan and to thank the members of the local CONNECT Steering Group at Wheatfield and all others who have supported this Project.
I want the Irish Prison system to consistently reflect in its policies and actions the very best features of our society. These positive features of Irish life include a commitment to social cohesion and inclusion, to equality, to fair play and to human progress. CONNECT represents some of the best features in our national life: care for others, social solidarity and the will to succeed and better ourselves. I commend all involved in its inception and delivery.
Thank you. |
