Ebulletin #41

15th December 2006

VOICES RISING - Volume 4, Number 12

Prisoner Voting Bill reaches Committee Stage

On 13 November, legislation to provide Irish prisoners with a mechanism to vote reached committee stage debate before the Committee on the Environment and Local Government.

The bill received all-party support in the Committee, which clears the way for the ammended bill it to come before the Oireahctas for passage.

The IPRT was invited to make a submission to Minister Dick Roche on the draft Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006, and we were pleased to see a number of our comments and suggestions taken up by the members of the Committee.

IPRT Chairperson speaks on Alternatives to Custody in Edinburgh

In December, IPRT Chairperson Claire Hamilton gave an address at the Alternatives to Custody conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Power Point  slides for her address, "Whither the Golden Thread?", are now available on the IPRT website.

"From equivalence of standards to equivalence of objectives: The entitlement of prisoners to health care standards higher than those outside prisons" by Rick Lines, International Journal of Prisoner Health

In a new article, IPRT Executive Director Rick Lines argues that, even if achieved, standards of prison health care only equivalent to that in the community would in some cases fall short of human rights obligations and public health needs.  Published in the December issue of the International Journal of Prisoner Health.

IPRT Holiday Closure

The IPRT office will be closed from Monday 18th December and will re-open Monday 8th January. 

Happy Holidays from all of us at IPRT.