€1k-a-day jail for juveniles is four times cost of a maximum security prison
THE cost of rehabilitating juvenile offenders in the State’s main detention centre is now nearly four times greater than keeping Ireland’s most notorious criminals in a maximum security prison.
Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone has confirmed the annual cost of keeping an offender in Oberstown, the €56m centre for under-18s, is €383,574, or €1,050 a day.
More than 73% of those in the centre in December are repeat offenders, according to the most recent figures, sparking calls by politicians to examine an increasingly expensive system that is not deterring most from reoffending.
The average yearly cost to house a high-security prisoner in Portlaoise, Ireland’s only maximum security jail where dissident republicans are incarcerated, is €97,124, the Irish Prison Service said, or a daily rate of €266.
Detaining juveniles at Oberstown also costs more than five times more than the average yearly bill for keeping a prisoner across the entire prison estate, which stands at €69,421, or €190 a day.
Fianna Fáil deputy Darragh O’Brien, who lives close to Oberstown in Lusk, north Co Dublin, told the Irish Mail on Sunday that the disparity in the costs was ‘stunning’ and ‘absolutely mind-blowing’.
He said he did not believe the management in Oberstown, who have been questioned by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs, ‘are being honest about the situation’.
‘I believe the facility is now being effectively run by those held in the facility, and while they are children, some are 17 and are dangerous reoffenders. I think the kid gloves need to come off in some instances here,’ he added.
Seven young offenders accused of arson and causing €3.5m worth of damage during a stand-off at Oberstown in August 2016 have now been sent forward for trial. The case has been ruled too serious to be heard in the Children’s Court so the defendants will be tried in the Circuit Court.
Mr O’Brien said his main concerns lay with the protection of staff, some of whom have been badly injured, and residents, who are fearful of a further escalation in violence.
‘Of course, for younger people who offend you want to give them extra supports and offer a pathway to help them get their lives back on track,’ he said.
‘But if they keep reoffending you have to ask is the taxpayer getting value for money and is the system working? Previously, if someone escaped from the centre, a siren went off and now they don’t do that because it upsets other residents in the centre, so they send text messages instead to warn the community.
‘I don’t think the centre is being properly managed and I don’t believe that staff are given enough protection.’
A spokesman for Oberstown said: ‘The increase in costs identified with running the Oberstown campus reflects the improvement in services in the context of increased staffing and related supports and facilities.’
‘The facility is being run by those held in it’