Prison Service

The Prison Service manages prisons in Ireland.

Our role covers the following seven categories:

1. Prisons

2. Rehabilitation

3. Sentence remission

4. Release from prison

5. Sex offenders

6. Temporary release

7. Parole board.

These seven categories are explained briefly below.

Prisons

We provide safe, secure custody for people sent to prison by the courts. Prisons range from high-security institutions to open prisons with lower levels of security. Each prisoner is placed in the type of prison that is consistent with their offence, the length of sentence and the degree of risk. You can get more information about prisons and places of detention in Ireland in the section headed ‘Your guide to prisons and places of detention’ towards the end of this section.

Rehabilitation

To prevent prisoners from re-offending when they get released from prison, we aim to rehabilitate offenders. Rehabilitation services treat and address issues such as offending behaviour, drug and alcohol addiction, lack of education and training, anger management and self-management. This encourages the personal development of prisoners and prepares them for their release when they will have to re-settle into the community.

Sentence remission

All prisoners with a sentence to which remission applies automatically are, under law, entitled for a one quarter remission of their sentence on the basis of their good behaviour (the term remission here means a reduction in the length of a prison sentence). This is taken into account by judges when passing sentence. In addition, all such prisoners who have taken part in authorised activity may apply to receive an enhanced remission period of greater than one quarter but not more than one third of their sentence. However, there is no automatic entitlement to enhanced remission.

Prisoners who cannot benefit from remission include those serving life sentences.

Prisoners serving life sentences have no set release date and are only freed with the approval of the Minister for Justice following a recommendation by the Parole Board.

Release from prison

Offenders are usually released from prison when they complete their sentence, or when they are approved for temporary release. A life sentenced prisoner released from prison is subject to certain conditions for life, including supervision by the Probation Service and other conditions designed to protect the public. If they breach [do not follow] these conditions, the prisoner may have to return to prison.

Prisoners may be released as a result of an appeal or some other legal process. In certain cases, a prisoner who has not been convicted may be released on bail, after an application to the courts.

Sex offenders

All sex offenders released from prison after September 2001 are subject to certain restrictions. They must notify An Garda Síochána of their current address and of any future change in address.

Temporary release

This allows us to re-integrate an offender into the community in a planned way. Temporary release arrangements include:

• release under the direct supervision of the Probation Service;
• release under the Community Return Scheme or Community Support Scheme;
• release to employment or training programmes;
• compassionate release because of ill-health or family circumstances; or
• release to help the offender re-integrate when they are nearing the end of their sentence.

We take many factors into account when considering prisoners for temporary release, including any possible danger to the public and to their victim. When we release an offender on temporary release, we try to make sure that they do not come into contact with the victim of their crime.

Parole Board*

The Board advises the Minister for Justice about long-term prison sentences. As with temporary releases, the Board takes a wide range of factors into account when it makes a recommendation. A victim, or the family of a victim who has died as a result of the crime, may make a written submission to the Parole Board. The Minister may fully or partly accept the recommendations of the Parole Board, or reject them completely.

(*Please note that the Parole Act, 2019 provides for the establishment of an independent statutory Parole Board and work is underway in providing for these new arrangements.)

Our mission – to provide safe and secure custody, dignity of care and rehabilitation to prisoners for safer communities.

Our vision – to make communities safer through excellence in a prison service built on respect for human dignity.

The Victim Liaison Service is a voluntary and strictly confidential service. If you wish to receive information about an offender convicted for an offence against you, we will register your name and contact details and you will be a ’registered victim’ with the Irish Prison Service Victim Liaison Service.

We will:

• try to rehabilitate offenders sentenced to prison, so that other people will not become victims of their crimes;
• make sure that we will take into account possible risks to you in all cases of temporary release;
• make sure all efforts are made to prevent an offender in prison from causing further upset to victims.

Based on their request we will also tell registered victims (victims registered with our Victim Liaison Service) the following information.

We will tell you when:

• when the offender is to be released from prison, either on temporary release or at the end of their sentence if you or a member of your family have requested this information;
• if the release is ordered by the Court (We would usually do this after the release has happened.);
• any release or discharge conditions;
• information about other relevant developments about the prisoner’s sentence if you request this. These include developments such as transfers between prisons or Parole Board hearings (for prisoners sentenced to eight years or more);
• if the prisoner has escaped from custody;
• if the prisoner dies while in custody or on temporary release.

We will also tell An Garda Síochána about the release of all sex offenders.

If you or a family member or a third party acting on your behalf would like to register with our Victim Liaison Service to be kept informed of significant developments in a particular prisoner’s case, please contact the Prison Service Victim Liaison Officer. Contact details are given below.

As a registered victim, if you have any questions about the Irish Prison Service, you can contact the:

Victim Liaison Officer

Irish Prison Service Headquarters

IDA Business Park, Ballinalee Road

Co Longford.

Tel: (043) 333 5100

Email: vlo@irishprisons.ie

Website: www.irishprisons.ie

If you wish to make a complaint about any aspect of our service, you can do so by putting your complaint in writing and sending it to the following address:

Assistant Principal Officer,

Victim Liaison Service,

Irish Prison Service Headquarters,

IDA Business Park,

Ballinalee Road,

Longford,

N39 A308

Where to contact us:

• Address: Operations Directorate, Irish Prison Service Headquarters, IDA Business Park, Ballinalee Road, Co Longford.
• Tel: 043-333 5100
• Email: info@irishprisons.ie

We do our best to place prisoners in an institution as near as possible to their homes, so that relatives and friends can visit. This is not always possible, for example, in the case of prisoners who may be a threat to the public and must be kept in a high-security prison. A committal prison is a prison to which a court can send a person directly. The Prison Service can transfer prisoners from a committal prison to other prisons or institutions.

More information on the Irish Prison Service is available at www.irishprisons.ie and the following table provides a list of our prisons:

If you are on a mobile device, please note that you can scroll to the right-hand side to view all the contact details in the table below.