Labour to bring in alternatives to jail for non-violent offenders

LABOUR SAYS it will introduce alternatives to imprisonment for many non-violent offenders if returned to Government.

However, the party said yesterday it would probably go ahead with “a modest form” of the controversial Thornton Hall prison in north Dublin because more than €40 million had already been spent on the project.

Labour’s justice spokesman Pat Rabbitte accused the Government of deliberately leaving behind a number of “landmine projects” – such as Thornton Hall and the proposed National Children’s Hospital – for the next administration to deal with.

If Thornton Hall goes ahead, a section may operate as an open prison, the party suggests in a document on penal policy. Mr Rabbitte said his preference was for the refurbishment of Mountjoy Prison.

The document proposes that District Court judges would be obliged to consider all alternatives before imprisoning someone and give a brief written explanation of any custodial sentence.

It also proposes an increase in the number of juvenile liaison officers and more resources for the probation and welfare services.

It says the continuing use of St Patrick’s Institution for the imprisonment of children is a clear violation of the State’s human rights obligations and should cease immediately.

The document also calls for the implementation of the 2009 recommendation by the inspector of prisons that no more than 540 prisoners be accommodated at any one time in Mountjoy Prison.

Questioned about this commitment, Mr Rabbitte said Labour was not planning to give the governor of Mountjoy the power to turn away prisoners once the jail was full.

However, it would tackle the problem by addressing the broader factors that were driving the increase in prison population.

Labour says the Government’s penal policies are not working. Chronic overcrowding, rising violence and demeaning physical conditions are making criminality worse rather than addressing it.

Mr Rabbitte said he favoured holding Garda numbers at about the present level of 14,500.