Ebulletin #69
25th May 2012
In this edition:
- Introduction
- Prison Law Seminar: ‘Lessons from Scotland’
- Save the Dates: Upcoming IPRT Events
- Event: Impact in Ireland of the UNCAT
- Prisons and Penal Reform: Recent Developments in Ireland
- IPRT in the News
- Upcoming Events
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1.
Introduction
The past few months have seen a number of major
developments in Irish penal reform. On April 2nd, the Minister
for Children announced plans to end the detention of
children at St. Patrick's within two years, with 16 year olds being
diverted to Oberstown from 1st May 2012. On April 19th, the Minister for
Justice and Equality announced that a new system of investigating all deaths
of prisoners would be put in place, overseen by the Inspector of
Prisons. This has also been a campaigning priority for IPRT over many
years.
On April 30th, the Irish Prison Service launched a three year Strategic
Plan, to which IPRT had significant input, which includes
commitments to (i) end slopping out with 40 months; (ii) renovate
Cork, Mountjoy and Limerick Prisons; and (iii) specific strategies to meet the
needs of vulnerable and marginalised groups in the prison population. A
revised version of the Spent
Convictions Bill was also published recently and IPRT will shortly
be issuing our analysis of the Bill. Progress on other key human rights
issues is also moving closer, with the Inspector
of Prisons recently submitting recommendations for a new complaints
process within the prison system. All of these achievements have been
built on the platform of policy work and alliance-building which IPRT has put
in place over the past four years.
The
launch of the IPRT/ICCL Prisoners’ Rights booklet
and the associated promotion activities, particularly in prisons, will have a
major impact on prisoners’ human rights awareness and will be of long-lasting
value in the promotion of human rights through the prison system. We have
already had launches of Know Your Rights - Your Rights as a Prisoner in Dublin, Limerick and Cork
and in the next two weeks we will be launching the booklet and an audio version
in four prisons. Hosting events outside of Dublin, but especially hosting events in
prison, is another major step forward for IPRT.
While
all of these policy developments are of great importance, the situation on the
ground in many of the prisons remains extremely difficult particularly as we
move into the summer months. Overcrowding and violence remain acute and
the disempowerment of prisoners, who still have no access to an independent
complaints system, dominates prison life. We are shifting our
attention and energies to address this one key problem within the system – the
problem of accountability; and we are hopeful that we can begin to see progress
in this area in the coming months too.
Liam
Herrick,
Executive
Director
Keep up to date on
IPRT news and activities between e-bulletins:
W: www.iprt.ie / Tw: www.twitter.com/iprt / Fb: www.facebook.com/irishpenalreformtrust
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2. Prison Law Seminar: ‘Lessons from
Scotland’
The
Irish Penal Reform Trust and Dublin Institute of Technology are pleased to
announce that Tony Kelly, leading Scottish human rights and prison law
solicitor, will speak on the topic: Using the European Convention on Human
Rights in prison law cases: Lessons from Scotland. More information about
the speaker is available here: http://www.iprt.ie/contents/2333
Day/time: Wednesday, May
30th, 2012 from 6-7.30pm
Location: Room 5034 (fifth floor), Dublin
Institute of Technology, Aungier
Street, Dublin 2.
The
event will be followed by a reception.
Registrations
/ CPD certificates:
- To
register for this event, please contact Mary Gaffney at tel: 01-8741400 or
e-mail info@iprt.ie
- A
certificate of attendance will be provided for those wishing to claim CPD
points. Please contact mary.rogan@dit.ie if you require such a certificate.
This seminar is funded by the Irish
Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences, as part of its
Research Development Initiative. It is part of a collaborative project between
Dublin Institute of Technology and the Irish Penal Reform Trust. See: http://www.irchss.ie/awrads/rdi
___________________________
3. Save the Dates! Upcoming IPRT events:
- 12th
July, 2012: IPRT Annual General Meeting
Our 2012 AGM will take place at 6pm on Thursday 12th
July in the Camden Court Hotel,
Dublin 2. Full
details will be sent to all IPRT members shortly. - 20th
September, 2012: IPRT Annual Lecture with Judge Colman TreacyIPRT is delighted to announcethat the
Honourable Mr Justice Colman Treacy, member of the UK’s
Sentencing Council
will deliver the IPRT Annual Lecture on 20th Sept 2012 in Kilmainham
Gaol, Dublin 8.
More details will be announced in June on the IPRT website.
- 20th November, 2012: IPRT Report Launch
IPRT is delighted that the Ombudsman for Children,
Emily Logan, will launch the forthcoming IPRT Report on the rights and needs of
children of imprisoned parents in Ireland. Full details to follow,
but mark your diaries now!
Keep an eye on www.iprt.ie for more
news about these and other upcoming events!
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4.
Preventing Ill-Treatment and Securing Accountability: Impact in Ireland
of the UNCAT
On
Monday 28th May, 2012, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and Justice for
Magdalenes will co-host an event focusing on the impact in Ireland of the work of the UN
Committee against Torture. The event marks the one year follow-up on Ireland's
first examination under the United Nations Convention against Torture and other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT), which took place
in June 2011. During this first periodic review, Ireland faced tough human
rights questions from members of the United Nations Committee against Torture on
issues including abortion, prison conditions, domestic violence, the asylum
process, extraordinary rendition, trafficking and redress for survivors of the
Magdalene laundries.
For
this event, ICCL is bringing together national and international experts to
discuss the impact in Ireland
of the work of the UN’s top anti-torture experts. The keynote speaker is
Felice Gaer, Director of the New York-based Jacob Blaustein Institute for
the Advancement of Human Rights and Vice-Chair of the UN Committee against Torture.*A
representative of Justice for Magdalenes will speak about their experience of
using the UNCAT to enhance the impact of their advocacy.
Tea
and coffee will be served; the venue is fully accessible.
Places
are limited, so please RSVP to Aoife Murphy at aoife.murphy@iccl.ie
*
Ms. Gaer is participating in this event in her personal capacity.
___________________________
5. Prisons and
Penal Reform: Recent Developments in Ireland
Penal policy in Ireland is often described as
frustratingly stagnant and one dimensional, with prison building being the long
established default initiative of Irish penal policy. Recently, however, there
has been a move away from prison expansion, and there seems to be an emerging
understanding of effective alternatives to custody. Read our Guest Blog, which has a round-up of
recent developments in penal policy, and shows that we may have reason to be
optimistic about the future of penal reform.
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6. IPRT in the News
- There was widespread media coverage at the beginning
of April in response to the Government’s announcement that the first phase of the National Children’s Detention Centre would be constructed, thus bringing to an end the
practice of detaining children in St Patrick’s Institution. Liam appeared on RTÉ
Six One to discuss this hugely significant news. Liam also discussed
the news on several radio stations, including RTÉ's Drivetime, 98fm, fm104,
UTV Radio News and Spin 103. The Irish Examiner had a broader
take on the news, which they reported in an article entitled ‘Overcrowded
prisons – One ray of hope among the chaos’. The report criticised
how long overdue this action is and it quotes the IPRT, who described the
announcement as historic.
- Attention
was drawn to the issue of electronic tagging in early April. Liam spoke on Newstalk, highlighting that while electronic
tagging may have a place in specific circumstances it will not solve the
overcrowding crisis in Irish prisons. Liam was later quoted on The
Journal.ie, and the Irish Examiner published an
article entitled ‘Reform
group urges caution on prisoner tagging’. The
Examiner ran a further article in which Liam raised important
issues that need to be resolved around tagging, such as how prisoners who
are suitable for tagging will be assessed. Questions remain about how the system
would operate.
- On 19th
of April, the Government announced that any death of a person in custody would
be subject to an independent investigation by the Inspector of Prisons. RTE.ie,
the
Belfast Telegraph, Irish
Independent and Irish
Times all quoted Liam, who welcomed it as a positive development, but warned that it may not go far enough to
satisfy all the requirements of article 2 of the European Convention Human
Rights.
- Liam was on Morning
Ireland on 1st May to discuss the IPS’s Three
Year Strategic Plan. Liam welcomed plans to allow certain prisoners to
complete their sentences on supervised community service, highlighting that
this is an effective way to both tackle overcrowding and reduce reoffending. The
Irish Examiner also reported on the early release scheme, in which Liam
emphasised that for the scheme to be effective
probation officers and community workers must be adequately resourced.
- Several
articles appeared in newspapers following the publication of the first draft
of the Spent Convictions Bill 2012 on 4th May. The
Irish Times pointed out that Ireland
and Slovenia
are the only two countries in the EU that do not have Spent Convictions
legislation. [This is in fact incorrect - Slovenia now has a system for expungement of convictions.] IPRT Director Liam Herrick is quoted in the article, highlighting
some of the limitations of the Bill. IPRT’s concerns were also reported in
an Irish
Examiner article, in which Liam was quoted thus: “we believe that the legislation could go further in
terms of raising the maximum sentence covered by the bill, shortening the
rehabilitative periods, and reconsidering the blanket exclusions of certain
categories of employment, such as all persons working with children.”
For a full list and links, click here.
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7. Upcoming
Events
- On 26 May, 2012 the Community
Platform will hold a Claiming Our Future event, Reinventing Our Democracy,
in Croke Park. Register now at: www.claimingourfuture.ie
- On 28 May, 2012 the ICCL and
Justice for Magdalenes will host a UNCAT follow up event, Preventing
Ill-Treatment and Securing Accountability: Impact in Ireland of the UNCAT.
The event takes place in the Radisson, Golden Lane from 2-4pm. Registrations: aoife.murphy@iccl.ie
- On 30 May, 2012 an IPRT/DIT
Prison Law Seminar, Using the European Convention on Human Rights in prison law cases:
Lessons from Scotland takes place in DIT Aungier St at 6pm.
- On 5 June, 2012 an International
Symposium, Sad Kids, Not Bad Kids: Developing
the Blueprint for a Comprehensive Youth Violence Strategy, takes place in Brussels.
- On 28 & 29 June, 2012, the North South Irish Criminology
Conference will take place at University College Dublin on the theme of
‘Economy, Crime and Punishment’. To register for the conference,
email criminology@ucd.ie
- On 12 July 2012 at 6pm the IPRT Annual General Meeting will take place in the Camden Court
Hotel, Dublin 2. To register, please contact Mary at
info@iprt.ie
- From 5-7 Sept, 2012, the Re-imagining Imprisonment in Europe - Common Challenges,
Diverse Policies and Practice conference, hosted by the Jesuit Centre for
Faith and Justice Ireland
and the European Scribani Network, will be held in Trinity
College, Dublin. For full details see: http://jcfj.ie/scribani-conference.html
- On 20 Sept, 2012 the IPRT Annual Lecture will be delivered by Judge Colman Treacy of
the UK Sentencing Council. The event takes place in Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin 8. Full details to
be announced in June 2012.
