An overhaul of Prison Visiting Committees has been recommended to ensure they “further comply” with part of the UN Convention against Torture.
Minister for Justice Simon Harris on Tuesday told Cabinet that he intends to publish a review of the committees later this week.
A review of the PVCs was a commitment in the 2020 Programme for Government. “Its aim is to review the status of (the committees) and ensure that they further comply with the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture,” a post-Cabinet Government statement said.
The report makes a total of 22 legislative recommendations primarily focused on the structure, membership and appointment process of the committees.
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They also encourage the development of a process to provide regular reports on issues to the Minister for Justice and prison governors, and impose an obligation for the committees to conduct enquiries at the direction of the Minister for Justice.
It makes 27 non-legislative recommendations, focusing on further guidance regarding how regularly the committees can visit and other matters including record keeping when concerns are raised by prisoners which detail the problem identified and steps taken to address it.
The role of the Inspector of Prisons will also be expanded in a related shake-up.
Mr Harris is to publish the inspection of places of detention bill later this year, and will expand the inspector’s role to become a “Chief Inspector of Places of Detention”, according to a Government briefing note distributed after Cabinet met on Tuesday.
The chief inspector will also become the National Preventative Mechanism (NPM) – an independent visiting body, the establishment of which is necessary to allow Ireland to ratify the UN Convention against Torture, which provides an oversight mechanism which assists States in preventing torture and other forms of ill-treatment in places of detention.
“The Chief Inspector will be designated as National Preventative Mechanism for prisons and relevant places of detention within the whole justice sector, including detention in Garda stations, court holding cells and in vehicles transporting persons between places of detention”.
The legislation will designate NPMs to act as national inspection bodies of places of detention, which in turn will allow Ireland to ratify the optional protocol to the UN convention against torture.
NPMs are designed to set standards which will be subject to international inspection and monitoring and will ensure that all places of detention in the State consistently meet recognised standards.
