Worldwide interest in Portlaoise for Irish prison programme

Representatives from prison services all over the world have travelled to Portlaoise this week to learn about a unique Irish prison programme which is currently in operation in all 12 Irish prisons.

Delegates were drawn from as far away as Australia to learn about the Community Based Health and First Aid (CBHFA) programme run in Irish prisons, with a view to implementing it at home.

The CBHFA programme sees prisoners become Irish Red Cross volunteers who act as peer-to-peer educators in prisons. They raise awareness and implement projects aimed at improving the overall health, well-being and safety of prisoners within their community. The programme is run by the Irish Red Cross, in conjunction with the Irish Prison Service and Education and Training Boards Ireland.

The CHBFA programme is celebrating its 10-year-anniversary this year and in that time has witnessed phenomenal success. For example, before Irish Red Cross inmate volunteers initiated a weapons amnesty in Wheatfield Prison, 97% of all prisoner-on-prisoner assaults involved handmade cutting weapons; in a matter of months just 6% of these assaults involved cutting weapons thanks to the amnesty arranged by Irish Red Cross inmate volunteers and management. 40 handmade weapons were also handed in in a weapons amnesty in the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise over the course of a week in October 2017.

HIV screening testing run by Irish Red Cross volunteers saw 80% of prisoners in Mountjoy, 58% of prisoners in Wheatfield and 55% of prisoners in Cloverhill engage in voluntary HIV screening.

The Irish Red Cross is now deemed a “global pole” of expertise for its prison work within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

Since the CBHFA programme was introduced in Irish prisons in 2009, 1,000 prisoners have become Irish Red Cross volunteer inmates.

In Portlaoise yesterday, Caron McCaffrey, Director General of the Irish Prison Service said; “The programme can make life safer for staff, improve the sense of wellbeing amongst prisoners and make the prison environment better for everyone. Moreover, experience has shown that it can change the outlook of prisoners to become more proactive and positive towards developing their community for the better. The Irish Prison Service recognises the importance of this project and acknowledges the important changes that it has already brought about in prison life.”

Pat Carey, Chairman of the Irish Red Cross said “the prison system has reached out in a way that many people didn’t think could be done to make significant changes to the life circumstances of a large number of people,” while Steven O’Connor from the Education and Training Boards Ireland noted “one of the main ways adults learn as opposed to children is that adults need to be involved in both the planning and evaluation of their learning and this programme does that superbly well.”

The event in Portlaoise, entitled the Community-Based Health in Detention Workshop began on Monday  and finished up on Tuesday. The representatives from national prison services were joined by delegates from the Red Cross Societies in their countries, as the implementation of this prison programme requires the cooperation of both stakeholders. Over the two days, delegates are engaging in interactive training and workshops around the potential integration of a CBHFA programme within a prison community in their own countries.