Irish prisons are a failed system which punish the most marginalised without offering adequate rehabilitation, according to the Co-ordinator of Irish Prison Chaplains, who is calling for a public debate on the issue. Sr Imelda Wickham welcomed Dermot Ahern's announcement of the development of the State's first White Paper on Crime last month, but said there is a need for a balanced debate where all voices can be heard.
''Our prisons say a lot about us as a society,'' she said.
''They send people to prison who are mentally ill, when they really need to be in a hospital. They send people to prison who suffer a very severe addiction, when they should be in an addiction centre. They send people to prison who have sexually offended, and I would say again they should be in treatment centres. They send people to prison who can't pay their debts, the poorest of the poor, and the debt is still there when they get out.''
Sr Wickham questioned the continued expansion of prisons in light of the economic downturn and when the high rate of recidivism would suggest it is a failed system.
''My concern is that we will go the same way as the US where they have these super prisons, and it costs so much to maintain them that they can't afford to educate people. We cut back on primary education, we cut back on primary health care, we cut back on social welfare but we don't cut back on the building of prisons,'' she said.
''We can lock prisoners up and forget about them or we can say they are human beings, members of our community, and the way forward is a smaller more rehabilitative type of prison, near the person's family, with greater resources to help the prisoners. But unfortunately we are going in the other direction.''
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(Source: CIN)