Parliamentary Question: Prisoner Education

30th September 2003

1171. Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the newspaper reports (details supplied) that indicate that prisoners achieved high grades in the leaving certificate in excess of many public and private schools; and his views on whether prisoners who receive a quality education in prison are far less likely to reoffend. [20330/03]

1172. Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if figures are available comparing the recidivism rates of prisoners who receive an education while incarcerated and those who do not; and the identity of same. [20331/03]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell): I propose to take Questions Nos. 1171 and 1172 together.

I am aware of the newspaper reports as referred to by the Deputy and I wish to congratulate the achievement of prisoners in several prisons who secured excellent examination grades in 2003. However, I would make the point that, in the prisons, enrolment in third level/degree courses is through the Open University and not through the standard CAO system as is implied in the particular newspaper article.

The Annual Report for 2002 of the Irish Prison Service, which was recently presented to me and which has just been published, gives an overview of the provision of education in our prisons. As well as commenting on the principal features and major developments in relation to the prison education service during 2002, the individual prison profiles contained in the annual report give a snapshot as to the extent of participation by prisoners in educational facilities in the different prisons and places of detention. As mentioned in the report, however, set courses and examinations are but a part of prison education.

Successive policy initiatives in relation to the prisons, dating from the Whitaker Report in 1985, have placed emphasis on the crucial role education can play in the management and rehabilitation of prisoners. In the individual institutions, participation varies with factors such as facilities, turnover of the prisoner population and the need to segregate certain groupings of prisoners. Participation in education is voluntary; each student has an individualised timetable which caters for his/her identified needs. In 2002, 54% of all prisoners were involved at some level in education: the take-up in the different education units ranging from 43% to over 80%.

I would call the Deputy's attention to a particular commitment in the Agreed Programme for Government which states "we will tackle the high level of illiteracy and lack of educational accomplishment prevalent in many prisoners by supporting enhanced educational programmes within prisons". Specific actions in relation to the above Government commitment by the Irish Prison Service include the prison education curriculum is currently under review to ensure continuing relevance to prisoner needs; the recent launch by the Irish Prison Service of a research study on adult literacy levels among prisoners, which measures the extent of the problem in an objective manner and most importantly compares the literacy levels of prisoners with those of the general population; and the development by the prison education service of guidelines for quality literacy work in prisons which aims to facilitate prison education units to reach and retain a larger number of prisoners with literacy problems. Implementation of the guidelines is in progress in all prisons and places of detention.

Continuing curriculum development is a particular feature of the prison education service. Furthermore, the service has been to the forefront in the planning and development of innovative classroom material for literacy and basic education students.
As regards the mention by the Deputy of a possible linkage between participation in education by prisoners and a reduction in recidivism, the Irish Prison Service has recently confirmed an allocation of part funding to a leading criminological academic body to enable it to undertake a multi-level study of prisoner recidivism. Among variables to feature in the analysis will be data on a sizeable sample of prisoners including offence and offender characteristics such as age, gender, education, marital status, criminal history, offence type, length of sentence served, whether the offender participated in specialised programmes etc. It is intended that the research will begin in the coming months and will run for about three years.