Madam, - Eoin McMahon's criticism of the Irish Penal Reform Trust's opposition to Minister McDowell's prison plans (August 20th) is long on hyperbole but again short on fact.
He is correct that the IPRT opposes mandatory drug testing of prisoners, electronic tagging of offenders and mandatory minimum sentencing. The reason is simple. Evidence-based research and evaluation of these programmes over many years in several countries proves that they fail (often spectacularly) to achieve the outcomes alleged by their proponents. Indeed, the research shows they often exacerbate the problems they promise to resolve, thereby squandering public monies that could be better spent.
The IPRT has publicly challenged the Minister to justify his intention to implement these schemes by providing evidence contradicting these findings. We await a response.
Mr McMahon's accusation that we oppose the closure of the antiquated Cork and Mountjoy prisons is simply incorrect. The IPRT welcomes the overdue closure of these long condemned facilities. However, we will not allow the Minister to disguise his choice massively to expand the prison population behind his obligation to improve prison conditions.
These are two separate issues, as has been made abundantly clear in the reporting of this issue in The Irish Times and elsewhere in recent weeks. The attempt to confuse these issues represents a false and frankly distasteful attempt to dress up reactionary prison policy in humanitarian clothing.
Finally, Mr McMahon's statement that the cost of non-custodial rehabilitative regimes and community supervision are "treble or quadruple" the cost of incarceration simply ignores the facts. According to the Auditor General earlier this year, "the cost of imposing a community-based sentence is significantly less than the cost of the alternative imprisonment term".
That report found the total cost of the Probation and Welfare Service in 2003 to be just over €40 million. Based on this figure, doubling the capacity of the Probation and Welfare Service to carry out community sanctions and supervision would be approximately half the cost of the Minister's plan to add 1,000 unnecessary prison places to the system (at an average annual cost of €85,000 each).
Mr McMahon may feel the IPRT's demand for evidence-based and fiscally responsible public policy to be "liberal blancmange". However, we believe it to be our duty, and indeed the duty of responsible Government, to prevent Ireland from plunging head-first into prison policies known to be expensive failures. - Yours, etc.,
RICK LINES,
Executive Director,
Irish Penal Reform Trust,
Bloomfield Avenue,
Dublin 4.