It is our duty to test all inmates’ suitability for release
EACH year, over 4000 people come in and out of our prisons. It is our job to prepare those people for life in custody, but equally important is the work we do to get prisoners ready for release back into the community.
The Prison Service is responsible for holding people securely and we take that responsibility very seriously. Some of those people are dangerous and have been given long sentences for the crimes they have committed.
No matter how serious the crime, the simple truth is that in Northern Ireland, there are no ‘life means life’ prisoners.
That means sentences come to an end. And that’s why, as well as holding people securely, the Prison Service is also required to test people before they are released back into the community.
We test people following recommendations from the Parole Commissioners for Northern Ireland on what we call a pre-release scheme.
The scheme allows prisoners to be tested incrementally, firstly within the prison and then on a three-phase programme.
This is a challenging programme during which individual prisoners are subject to ongoing risk assessments and review. Many prisoners successfully complete this pre-release testing and reintegrate back into society. However, a small number will fail the test and will demonstrate to us and the Parole Commissioners that they are not ready for release at that time.
We have a responsibility to
ensure when we release someone back into the community they are given the best possible chance to live normal lives.
Sometimes this will include training useful for employment or exercise to encourage healthier living.
On occasion this will mean prisoners can be allowed to take part in group activity outside the prison, where they are accompanied throughout by experienced prison staff.
By its very nature, this could be viewed as controversial and I can understand why there would be opposition to this, but be assured each prisoner is individually assessed before they are permitted to take part in such activity.
While not everyone will agree that this should happen, each prisoner is individually assessed before they are permitted to take part in such activity as part of the work that the Prison Service does to challenge and test people before they are released. That is one of the ways that we contribute to building a safer Northern Ireland.