Ombudsman for Children welcomes end to practice of detaining children in St. Patrick’s Institution

Children Act 2001 (Designation of Remand Centres) (Amendment) Order 2015* signed into law on 12^th March 2015 – comes into effect Monday 30^th March 2015

Ombudsman for Children, Dr. Niall Muldoon, has welcomed the signing of the Children Act 2001 (Designation of Remand Centres) (Amendment) Order 2015 which will come into effect next Monday 30^th March 2015.

The effect of this order is to allow 17 year old boys to be remanded to Trinity House School and Oberstown Boys’ School, rather than to St Patrick’s Institution.

The Ombudsman for Children Office has raised its concerns about children in prison since the office has been in existence and has been pushing to end the practice of incarcerating children aged 16 and 17 years of age in St. Patrick’s Institution.

Welcoming the signing of S.I. 95 the Ombudsman for Children, Dr. Niall Muldoon said: “St Patrick’s Institution was meant to be an interim place of detention for young people back in the 1980s, but 30 years on a small number of young people are regularly on remand in St. Patrick’s which is totally inappropriate.  Rehabilitation should be the focus, as opposed to incarceration and there is limited scope for rehabilitation in an adult prison system for young people of 16 and 17 years of age.

“Oberstown is built around rehabilitation with access to proper education, to psychiatric, psychological and medical services.  There is opportunity for the young people involved to change and to have a chance to rehabilitate.

“By moving these young people of 17 years of age, to an environment that is more conducive to rehabilitation, will help to change their future and may help to contribute to reduced recidivism rates. This move will make a huge change to the culture in which they live and their ability to create a better life for themselves.  That is something that I am very much pleased to see happening.”

ENDS

For further information please contact Sinéad Fennell 086 6075266

Notes to Editors:

* View the Children Act 2001 (Designation of Remand Centres) (Amendment) Order 2015 which was signed into law on 12^th March 2015, which comes into effect next Monday 30^th March 2015

In 2010, the OCO undertook a project with children aged 16 and 17 years of age detained in St Patrick’s Institution. The Ombudsman for Children welcomed the openness by the staff and management of St Patrick’s Institution to our direct work with children.

The Ombudsman for Children’s Office published its Report ‘Young people in St. Patrick’s Institution’ in February 2011. The Report, which was based on a series of consultations with young people detained in St Patrick’s Institution, set out findings and recommendations from the Ombudsman for Children to the management of St Patrick’s Institution and the Irish Prison Service. The report also included a formal response to these recommendations by the Irish Prison Service.

Read the Young people in St. Patrick’s Institution Report

View the Young people in St. Patrick’s Institution Executive Summary

The Ombudsman for Children’s remit was extended to receive, investigate and respond to individual complaints made by children held in St Patrick’s Institution from 1st July 2012.  On Friday 22^nd June, 2012 the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Ms Frances Fitzgerald TD and the Minister for Justice and Equality, Mr Alan Shatter TD, signed an Order removing the subsection from the Ombudsman for Children Act 2002 which excluded children detained in St Patrick’s Institution from the complaints remit of the Ombudsman for Children

• 27 March 2015
• Type: Press Release
• Topic: Youth Justice