2 weeks Ago By Aoife Horan
THE Department of Justice was advised to start temporary release for sex offenders — as they were among the least likely to reoffend. An expert group said there was a near prohibition on granting temporary release to those convicted of sexual crimes. However, it said this should be reconsidered if electronic monitoring was put in place.
A report to Justice Minister Helen McEntee said sex offenders, while eligible, “rarely receive temporary release”. It said: “However, CSO statistics on reoffending identify this cohort as amongst the least likely to reoffend, and this may be particularly prescient for those convicted of historical sexual offences.” The discussion paper on prison overcrowding said there could be “scope to increase the percentage of those successful in their applications”.
And it said this could work if electronic tagging was in operation, which is currently the subject of a review by the Justice Department. However, it warned against using electronic monitoring for sex offenders alone, saying this could lead them to being targeted by vigilantes. The report said: “The point has been made clearly that any such singling out may subject to abuse those on temporary release identified as wearing electronic monitoring hardware.
” Officials also said it would be useful to categorise sex offenders before release. The first group would be “those for whom the sexual offence is historic, and not related to their current sentence”. The second group would include “older, medically dependent people” who were engaged in a joint Garda-prison programme for the management of sex offenders.
The paper listed a third group that would be made up of “those convicted of lesser grade sexual offences”. Another possibility presented by officials for cutting prisoner numbers was the reduction of all sentences by 20, 30 or 40 days. It said that based on data from a specific date in April 2023, this step would have reduced numbers in custody by between 59 and 126 prisoners immediately.
However, it warned that any reduction would have to include all offenders or could be at risk of legal challenge. The report was finalised and given to McEntee last March..
