Parliamentary Question: Educational Services

20th May 2003

375. Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his plans to review the provision of educational services to juveniles in detention; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13595/03]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell): Before responding to the Deputy's question about a review of educational services for juveniles in custody, I will briefly outline what is provided at present by way of educational service for such offenders.

Education in the prisons for juveniles, as well as for adults, is mainly provided by the vocational education committees, VECs, in partnership with the Prison Service and with a range of educational agencies in the community such as the public library services, the Arts Council, etc. Education units are in operation in all prisons and places of detention, with the exception of Cloverhill Prison where the arrangements for education are not yet complete. A cohort of teachers amounting to 215 full-time equivalents provide a wide range of courses - from basic literacy to Open University, structured physical education, health education, social education, the arts in various forms, as well as more conventional subjects leading to junior and leaving certificate exams and accreditation by FETAC. However, set courses and examination work are but a part of prison education because of time restrictions, irregular intake and prisoners' special needs and interests.

St. Patrick's Institution, which is specifically designated to cater for male committals in the 16 to 21 age group, has a strong ethic of multi-disciplinary team-working which has resulted in the development of new programmes over the past two years for the rehabilitation of offenders including a drug-free wing, personal development group programmes and a positive sentence management programme. Work is ongoing in the Prison Service in relation to the following key targets in the educational area, as set forth in the Prison Service strategy statement: maintain the prisoner participation rate in education at 50% against the background of increases in the prisoner population; and review the education curriculum to ensure its continuing relevance to prisoner needs.

An extensive review of the educational curriculum for all prisons and places of detention is nearing finalisation. It is expected that the completed review will be presented to the director general of the Prison Service and to me in the coming months.
I am also arranging to forward the Directory of Prison Education 2002 to the Deputy. The directory, which gives more details of what is available in the education units of different prisons, is prepared annually by the Prison Service's co-ordinator of education.