Limerick Prison has adopted a new vocational training programme for its prisoners. The programme is expected to reduce the rate of offenders returning to serve further sentences.
The rate of recidivism, as it is known, is regarded as 70 per cent nationally.
The vocational project, called Connect, has run for three years at Mountjoy Prison, where a 5 per cent recidivism rate was recorded among the 367 participants.
"Connect focuses on prisoners' transition from custody through training to reintegration in the community after release," the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, said this week when he announced a £20 million building scheme for Limerick Prison.
The governor, Pat Laffan, said the vocational project would mean prisoners would be far more prepared for life on the outside. Many of their problems stemmed from the inability to adjust to making decisions for themselves again. Connect will involve skills training and meetings with potential employers.
The project is in a research phase at Limerick Prison, which has 190 prisoners. It is run by the National Training and Development Institute, part of the Rehab Group, in conjunction with the Department of Justice.
Staff and prisoners are being consulted before a general assessment of a suitable programme is made. "What most people see as extremely beneficial is the individual, personal programme, tailored for him or her. They work their way through that programme. If they want to move in that direction, they are given every encouragement and every assistance," Mr Laffan said.
He has been governor for six years and has been working in the prison since the mid-1970s. "I would know the fathers and grandfathers of some of the people I have at the moment. I could see young people coming up to visit a father here and I would be able to say to you, `That guy will be coming in here.' "
The prison is the oldest in the State whose original buildings are still being used. Predating Mountjoy, it was completed in 1821, but a new D wing was replaced in 1998 and some of the original building, including the former governor's residence, was recently demolished to make way for a new C wing. The construction scheme has been the most significant development Mr Laffan has seen at the 3.5-acre site. It will also involve the building of a new female prison and "gatelock" building. Prefab buildings at the prison entrance on Mulgrave Street will be removed. The old E block will be refurbished and a "halfway house", to allow a phased return to civilian life, will be constructed.
Prisoners will be allowed televisions in the new sections if they pay for them. "We would see people coming to prison as a punishment, not for punishment. The punishment really is in the sentence itself," Mr Laffan said.
"It is our objective that the person leads a purposeful life when that person goes back into the community. That is why I am excited about the Connect programme."
Ms Camilla McGourty, principal of the prison's education unit, expects the Connect project and the education programme will enhance and support each other. The prison has the equivalent of 16 full-time teachers and a 56 per cent participation rate among prisoners over the years.
"Education is such a vibrant part of the whole prison life. We go right across from very basic education up to Open University. The creative arts are very much part of it," she said.
A sculpture outside the walls is testament to the prisoners' creativity, but also on permanent display is a mosaic completed last year and a stained glass window in the chapel.
Nick Gudge has taught Tai Chi at the prison for the past five years. He believes many prisoners have a "charge in head-first" mentality.
"If I can learn not to put myself under pressure when I am uncertain in a controlled set of circumstances like a class, then I will take that skill and I will apply it in places outside the controlled environment, for example, with my family or with the prison officers or whatever else," he said.
"It teaches them where their bodies are stiff and where their minds are stiff and creates an opportunity for them to relax both."