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AROUND 3,500 PRISON staff around the country are to take a human rights training course.
The programme has been jointly developed by the Irish Human Rights Commission and the Irish Prison Service.
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, Alan Shatter, launching the course today, outlined the importance of human rights in the prison service:
The protection of human rights is not solely a matter for Government or for policy makers. In the Irish Prison Service, human rights concerns are relevant from management to the staff at the front line.
He also addressed human rights concerns in the prison service that have been raised in the past.
He referred to the closing down of St Patrick’s Institution in July of this year. The institution, which housed men aged between 17 and 21, was closed after a report by the Inspector of Prisons, Judge Michael Reilly.
In the report Judge Reilly commented “that a culture existed that led to the human rights of some children and young adults being ignored or violated”.
Minister Shatter told the crowd he addressed at the Irish Prison Service College, Portlaoise, that the service is taking on board its past mistakes as it moves forward:
The Irish Prison Service has shown that as a service it is willing to listen to the constructive criticism it has received from the Inspector, and others, and is prepared to effect changes in order to positively react to and address the issues raised.
The Director General of the Irish Prison Service, Michael Donnellan was also present at today’s launch. He stated the importance of treating people in the prison service with respect:
Respect for human rights is not just about the physical conditions of detention but also, and more importantly, it is the manner in which we treat our prisoners each day. It is about treating prisoners with humanity and with respect.
The Minister also reaffirmed the Irish Prison Service’s commitment to human rights and commented that this sentiment is ‘reflected’ in its mission statement, which is:
Providing safe and secure custody, dignity of care and rehabilitation to prisoners for safer communities
The human right training course for prison staff was launched this week to coincide with International Human Rights Week.
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Ahhhh no the poor murdering rapists rights are being abused.
And what % of the prison population are murdering rapists do you think?
Who cares what they’re crime was they’re all in their for breaking the law not on a holiday camp.
Just for once, I’d like our minister for justice to consider the victims rights instead of always being seen to favour the criminal.
What about gettin locked up for not being able to afford to pay for a tv licence on time? Id be carefull with that taring brush of yours.
What about our human rights? The victims of these career spongers? Oh I better say I’m talking about criminals you could get confused with our Dail!
TV licence fines are in and then out within 2 hours
Contrary to some of the more ignorant comments on here, Prison Officers are a very professional band of men and women. We carry out our duties with due diligence to the current regulations and laws. As much of the Human Rights Legislation has changed extensively over the years and due to the ban on recruitment over the past several years much of the new legislation had not been officially integrated into Officer training. This course is just updating Officers understanding of current regulations. Just like Gardai must get updated on new criminal legislation Prison Officers have an equal obligation to be aware of what new rights inmates have.
Mick I would imagine that prison officers are ideally placed to understand the true facts about the prison population: that many come from particular backgrounds, many have learning difficulties; many have addictions; and that prison as it is currently set up is a great way to take a petty criminal and turn them out as a hardened criminal. It must be horribly sad work.
I imagine it would be nicer to be a prison officer in a system such as Denmark’s, where there is a good atmosphere in prisons and the regime is actually contributing to the rehabilitation and re-integration of prisoners and a much lower recidivism rate than we currently have in this country.
I know as prison officers you are only implementing the system as it is currently designed – I hope you can manage to bring some love and compassion to your work sometimes.
On the contrary Miss Fled most Officers including myself would be inclined to go the opposite directing and aim towards the Sheriff Joe model. But as I have said we are professionals and must carry out our duties with due regard to current laws and regulations.
I’m very sad to hear that Mick. There but for the grace of god go I.
I wonder Mick how you reconcile this approach with the actual facts of regimes like Denmark’s having such dramatically lower recidivism rates compared to countries like us? And it is not just Denmark, but any country with that kind of more enlightened regime that has lower re-offending.
I would have thought that as a professional body of workers you would want to see effective regimes and ones that make it more pleasant for everybody all round – including yourselves in your work.
Mick. I have a relative in the prison service and I was in similar abroad. A little while ago I had a tour of mount joy and the Dochas ctr. The first thing that struck me was the amount of prison staff, they were everywhere.
I have visited Belmarsh High security prison in London on more than one occasion in an official capacity and only ever see max three staff, technology!!! Ireland is over staffed in the prison system and very expensive to run this has been recognised internationally
Mick, can you clear this on going myth, as peopke try to use it everytime. Is anyone actually serving time for non payment of tv licences or do they just do a few hours?
Michael. Tell me that we are over staffed when you an one other officer are in a rec hall with 150 prisoners. What appeared to as Officers everywhere is a misinterpretation. What you most like saw were Officers on visiting duty. On an average it takes about 15 Officers to run visits in Mountjoy in their present form. Yes we could drasticly cut that number if every visit was behind glass screens. But the powers that be have decided that this is inhumane. And if prisoners were locked down 23hrs a day you could make further cuts to staffing lvls but again this is viewed an inhumane. Then there are the Officers that are required to provide security to the civilian teachers in the school. And the Officers at the main gate that deal with comittals, Prisoners on Temporary Release that need to sign on and prisoners being discharged. Then you have Officers on escort duty. Who brings a prisoner to Hospital? Who brings prisoners to court?
You talk of the English Prison system. But what you don’t say is in the English system Assaults on Officers are 10 times higher than in the Irish system. In the prisons that use private security there have been several serious investigations culminating in reports to the Home Office citing serious concerns about staff safety and general security. So its a case of you get what you pay for. In the Irish Prison system escapes from custody are rare, in the English system in which you seem to like escapes are a weekly occurance.
Michael. This site was set up by English Prison Officers.
http://knowthedanger.co.uk/
Mick, I work Internationally within the Security services. What the Irish prison service lacks is technology. It’s also recognised as having more staff per capita than any other service in the EU fact. The service is still in the 19th century and it’s down to the unions, overtime etc. with technology within the service you can control a prison of 4000 with 40 staff, CCTV access control etc. but the Irish unions don’t like that, please get real!
Forgot to say escort duty can be done by contractors cheaper and more efficient.
Cholly. Not in Mountjoy. After they are commited fingerprinted and photographed and the are released on what is known as Temporary Release (TR). If anyone is kept it is because they have further court dates/charges, are in contempt of court or have a Gardai objection to their release. For a simple non payment of You fine for a TV licence you Will spend no more than a few hours while you are being processed.
Michael you haven’t a notion of how many prison officers were in the prison. Answer me this – how many prison officers are employed in this country?
How many prisoners in custody?
how many prisons?
If there is one thing I can categorically tell you then it’s that there are not too many staff in our prisons.
Your comparison to the UK is laughable – they have major, major problems in their system there.
Unless you’re a jailer then you cannot even begin to comprehend how complex it is to run or work in a jail so your “observation” is completely irrelevant.
So let me get this straight – you think that you can run a humane regime in a prison with 4,000 inmates and 40 staff?
Holy god. And the sad thing is that you claim to work in the security services………….
Again Michael I point to the escapes from custody when private security firms are involved compared to Prison Staff. And as for modern technology most prisons already have CCTV and electronic locks. But how is one Officer sitting in a hub watching TV cameras going to stop a fight in an exercise yard? How is technology going extract a violent prisoner from his cell. And for all it’s technology why has the English system have 10 times the Assaults on Staff that we do. Do you consider staff expendable? You obviously never worked on a prison floor. You have never had to face down a dozen stoned and angry prisoners. You should try it sometime. Put on a uniform and come work with us for a month and then tell me we are over staffed.
Jailer! I haven’t heard that phrase in 20 years you guys are so behind the times. Google the Irish prison system v international standards, you will find Ireland is about 15 years behind the developed world. I know you will have your side but that’s through blinkers and the fear of loosing your job. I would love to really debate this however I’m in a different timezone and going to bed so good night.
Mick I’m going to bed, but I do wNt to answer this. I have trained extraction teams I specialise in C&R you said it prisoners who are high!!! In a properly controlled environment they won’t get high because you are doing your job!
Again Michael you are a suit that has never worked on a Prison floor. You think you know how to run a Prison but you have NO practical experience of it. You want to save money? Then Lock prisoners down 23hrs a day, limit phonecalls to 1 a week, visits to 1 per month. Get rid of the Methadone program, limit Doctor visits to one a week, get rid of the school and education program and every other program that is currently running, get food from supermarkets and manufactures that is past its sell by date, stop all prisoners gratuity.
That little lot would save Millions each year.
Show me any prison anywhere in the world that does not have a problem with contraband smuggling. By your simple statement you show that you have absolutely no clue about prisons.
Michael, what you are saying is that we should privatise our prison system right? Like they’re doing in England and have done in the US. So some cuts man like you can come in a look for corners than need to be cut at the expense of the basic human rights of prisoners and the jobs of prison staff and ending up with a for profit draconian commercial prison that thrives only on a continuous stream of offenders it can lock up. Privitised penal systems do not work, the US with it’s 3,000,000 odd prisoners and growing despite it’s generally falling crime rates is proof enough of that. You would seemingly have a system geared towards profiting off incarceration rather than rehabilitation and re-intrigation which is simply mad.
So tell us the “international standards” Michael? Enlighten us please?
The Irish Prison Service is bound and closely monitored by the following:
Primary Legislation
The Constitution
Adaptation of Enactments Act 1922 (No. 22 of 1922)
Lunatics (Ireland) Act 1921
The Prison (Ireland) Act 1826
Criminal Lunatics (Ireland) Act 1838
Central Criminal Lunatic Asylum (Ireland) 1845
The Prisons (Ireland) Act 1846
The Prisons (Ireland) Act 1856
The Prison Officers Superannuation (Ireland) Act 1873
Lunatic Asylums (Ireland) Act 1875
The General Prisons (Ireland) Act 1877
Trial of Lunatics Act 1883
The Prison Service (Ireland) Act 1883
The Prisons (Ireland) Amendment Act 1884
Prisons Act 1898
Fines of Imprisonment (Ireland and Scotland) Act 1899
The Prisons (Ireland) Act 1907
Children Act 1908
Criminal Justice Administration Act 1914
Prisons (Visiting Committees) Act 1925
Prisons Act 1933
Offences against the State Act 1939
Enforcement of Court Orders Act 1940
Children Act 1941
Prisons Act 1956
Criminal Justice Act 1951
Criminal Justice Act 1960
Prisons Act 1970
Prisons Act 1972
Prisons Act 1974
Prisons Act 1977
Prisons Act 1980
Transfer of Sentenced Persons Act 1995
Transfer of Sentenced Persons (Amendment) Act 1997
Criminal Justice (Release of Prisoners) Act 1998
Children Act 2001
Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Act 2003
Human Rights Act 2003
Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006
Prisons Act 2007
Rules and Regulations
General Prisons Board (Transfer of Functions,) Order 1928
St. Patrick’s Institution Regulations, 1960 (S.I. No. 224 of 1960)
Detention of Offenders (Loughan House) Regulations, 1973 and 1983 (S.I. No. 60 of 1973 and S.I. No. 132 of 1983)
Detention of Offenders (Training Unit) Regulations, 1975 (S.I. No. 251 of 1975)
Detention of Offenders (Shelton Abbey) Regulations, 1976 (S.I. No. 293 of 1976)
Rules for the Government of Prisons, 1947 (S.R.&O. No. 320 of 1947)
Rules for the Government of Prisons, 1955 (S.I. No. 127 of 1955)
Rules for the Government of Prisons, 1976 (S.I. No. 30 of 1976)
Rules for the Government of Prisons, 1983 (S.I. No. 135 of 1983)
Rules for the Government of Prisons, 1987 (S.I. No. 90 of 1987)
Prisons (Temporary Release) Rules, 1960 (S.I. No. 167 of 1960)
Prisoners (Temporary Release) Rules, 2004 (S.I. No. 680 of 2004)
Prisons Act 1972 (Military Custody) Regulations, 1972 (S.I. No. 138 of 1972)
Prisons (Visiting Committees) Order, 1925 (Vol XVIII 805, June 3rd 1925)
Prisons (Visiting Committees) Order, 1972 ( S.I. No. 217 of 1972)
Rules for the Government of Prisons, 1947 (S.I. No. 320 of 1947)
Rules of the Superior Courts
Rules of the Circuit Court
Rules of the District Court
European Conventions and International Standards
European Prison Rules (Strasbourg)
European Convention on the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Strasbourg 1987)
European Convention on Human Rights (Strasbourg 1950)
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948
Vienna Declaration of Human Rights, 1993
International Convention on Civil and Political Rights
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
So go on and tell us again how, given the above legislation’s, rules, regulations and not forgetting “international standards”, how you could run a prison with 4,000 prisoners with 40 staff.
Don’t spout “international legislation” at me unless you actually know what it is….
Different timeline? You’re on a different planet.
You mean 24 hours in a cell with no human contact – oh and they’ll be fed when some of the 40 staff have time to feed them!
Sure Patlyndo, Michael here thinks we are just simple turn keys. That all it takes to run a Prison is sitting watching CCTV monitors and pressing a few buttons to open and close doors. Why would we need to know the law. And if a prisoner becomes violent to himself, other prisoners or staff maybe we can press a button that will remove him to a secure cell. Just beam him in there.
Miss filed. Your living in cuckoo land!!! The Denmark system does not work for all and can guarantee it would nt work in ireland too much gang problems, no funding no staff the list goes on. Go work in the joy for a week and we ll see your comments after that!!!
Horsebox .do you know where the five lamps are, if so, go hang your ball x from it
Over staffed?? Wtf, Just shows you haven’t a clue! You took a tour of mjoy one day and you came to that conclusion??? Go away with yourself!
Mick, I used the term “jailer” to highlight that. He seems to think that you are absolutely allowed to lock people up and treat them like animals (not that you’d be allowed to do so).
All the Irish Prison Service have to do is remove the problem from the street throw them in cells, turn the key and walk away.
He, like many people, do not understand the scrutiny that prisons are under. Prisoners have so many rights (and I am not saying that they shouldn’t) and there are numerous groups who monitor and visit prisons to insure that the prison service implement them.
I have family members serving as Prison Officers, I don’t envy you your job. You guys are made of strong stuff. Keep up the good work.
Jackie Jones, I have evidence on my side, what evidence do you have that the system as run in Denmark and other countries with similar rehabilitative systems and resulting low re-offending do not work or would not work for Ireland? All the evidence points to the fact that a system more like that WOULD work. But our Catholic heritage makes us a very punishing kind of people, so we do not favour anything that is compassionate and seeking to find a real solution.
I have no doubt it would be horrible to work in the Joy with the current system as it is.
It is way cheaper to run a system like the Danish system by the way, because they put less people in prison in the first place and then use truly rehabilitative methods that are proven to work. Less than 20% of people in prison are there for crimes that involve any violence – the rest are not.
I think the definition of sickness is to keep on doing the same thing even when it is not working!
Sorry, I meant to say that less than 20% of people in the Irish prison system are in for crimes that involve violence. The vast majority of crimes do not. Most prisoners come from a disadvantaged background, have learning difficulties or mental health or addiction issues, or all of the above.
So it seems that we can carry on doing what is not working (the old Catholic punishing institutional approach) or at least look at other systems that have dramatic results such as real rehabilitation and lower re-offending rates (ie lower crime!). Seems like a no-brainer to me anyhow.
There s plenty of text book evidence for AND against it. But reality is Ireland is a small country with massive gang culture take the gangs out and there would nt be as much in the jails!!! Go to cavan see the types of prisoners in there then have a look and Dublin cork and limerick!! Look at what’s in front of you not what you read from text books!!!
Micheal that’s a seriously misguided perception that’s a populous smokescreen that only benefits the pencil pushing hierarchy that try to make staffing levels appear to be acceptable. Genuine and chronic under staffing is the reality of Irish prisons and if you doubt this, on your next tour stand beside the two officers who will more than likely be unlocking a landing on their own, and make note of the reality when 70 plus prisoners most of whom have been involved in assaults on prison staff swarm towards you.
I read the comments on the Journal every now and again just to remind me of the thundering stupidity of some of my compatriots.
Cue the stupid ignorant comment brigade. As much as you might not like it this will benefit the public. If you treat inmates like animals they will continue to behave like animals. Educate them and treat them like humans, they just might re enter society and try not to re offend. We all know some people have no hope but I would rather try reform some if it means less thugs waiting for a chance to rob or worse.
Indeed Chuck, if we truly want to improve the situation for potential future victims, we would follow a much more enlightened prison system like Denmark’s – one that truly does rehabilitate – treats people with compassion and builds their responsibility and the skills and personal development that ends up in their having such a very low re-offending rate, dramatically lower than ours.
If you want punishment and revenge and a high re-offending rate, carry on as now!
Right on the uber liberal back slapping brigade are here!
Hello Geert, personally I am not interested in what is left-wing or right-wing. I have been a victim of crime and I actually know that the young person had a truly horrible violent and deprived upbringing and there could not have been any different outcome for him, so I feel so much compassion for him.
If compassion is not your bag and you want to just be logical about it, I think what is documented to work best seems a good bet.
I know it is not a popular message that if you treat somebody with dignity and compassion and work on supporting them to reform their life, take responsibility for themselves and acknowledge their problems, and support their reintegration back into society, the results are shown to be that they will be unlikely to re-offend – this message is not popular among people who like simplistic goodie / baddie thinking and who are not comfortable with more complex thinking.
And people do of course have the right to continue to hold the view that they would prefer a punishing regime with higher re-offending and crime in society instead of a regime that works on the root causes and results in less re-offending and crime in society.
I think it is easy to be angry when you are unhappy with your own life, and judging by this site, that is a lot of people in this country.
@Geert Wilders, they probably leave out their valuables and pile the furniture near the door when they go out to a funeral and expect their daughters to say thankyou to the nice man should they ever by raped. There are now families who are in their 4th generation of living by crime , some outcome for giving them any rights whatsoever.
To be fair they are not treated like animals, that’s are very ignorant statement. There are plenty of services, workshops and schools if they want to engage and get qualifications but it’s up to the individual. Officers try to help them engage with these services.
Human rights training course for prison officers? I’ve heard it all now.
Would you care to explain that comment.
They already do training in Human rights. Now, we’re sending them all back for retraining?
It is what is called a refresher course. As many of the Officers haven’t been in back to the academy in 20+ years and many of the Human Rights legislation comming from Europe has changed dramaticly over the years.
WHo’s gonna train the prisoners!
Duffys Circus animal trainers!
If you need “human rights training” to not beat the shit out of people in prison maybe you’re the wrong human for the job.
Mark what do you know of what goes on in prison pray tell? Have you ever even stepped inside a prison?
Support that with evidence you plank! Get real, it doesn’t happen. It’s not the shaw shank!
Will they run courses for the convicts. about the Human rights of there victims, Ah sure no , The bleeding heart do gooders won’t ever push for that . Those convicts lose there human RIGHTS when they commit crimes and should be treated accordingly every day of there sentence .
Indeed Retired Fire, that would be a big feature of more liberal and successful regimes like Denmark – the aim is to get the prisoner to the stage where they can regain their own dignity and sense of responsibility for their own actions, and become truly rehabilitated and learn how to integrate back into society and not go back into the path of crime. That is why they have a re-offending rate that is dramatically lower than ours. They also imprison way less people and have a lot more community service, yet their offending and re-offending rates are much lower than ours – this means less crime and less victims of crime. It is the same for all countries who have that kind of regime. Simply put, it works.
Danish prisons work for a whole host of reasons – one of which s that they don’t concentrate on punitive side so much, they concentrate on resocialisation. The prisons are designed to closely resemble life on the outside, and the idea is not to try to normalise the prisoners, but to normalise the actual prison itself. So, people cook their own food, do their own shopping too.
Your preaching to the deaf Miss Filed. When ever prison reform or prisoner rights are mentioned the only thing these people will countenance is more bars, more guards and longer sentences despite the proven evidence that American style privatised jailing doesn’t work. But of course if you present them with this evidence, like yesterday when the CSO debunked the myth that sex offenders are the most likely the re-offend, they scream their heads off and ignore it or call it liberal propaganda. It’s funny really because our system as it is makes the country more dangerous and making things harder on prisoners will make it more so. I think of prison reform like we think about the Good Friday agreement, yes these people do horrible things but the only way to move on to a safer and better society is to swallow that impotent rage and engage with prisoners and criminals to ensure they don’t have to re-offend.
‘No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should be judged not by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.’ Nelson Mandela said that. kinda fitting we have a lot of people huffing and puffing on here tonight who were probably posting comments of false sentiment about him today.
Luke, there are less rapes, murders etc in Denmark therefore you could use that system, we already have a similar system here loughlan house, Shelton abbey and the training unit.
Why not just go the whole hog and be more like Denmark – they are much kinder and have a dramatically lower re-offending rate – surely that is what we all want?
So we want to continue with a high re-offending rate, is that it? Right so! I am sure future victims would prefer we did something that addressed the problem and more than halved the re-offending rate…
I would be more inclined to go with the “Tent City” model in Maricopa County Jail, Arizona that is in operation. Very few inmates reoffend there either…and all inmates wear pink.
Kris I and most Officers would agree with you but we are obliged to follow the laws as they are laid down. While on duty our personal views an opinions must out of necessity take a back seat.
If I am right that is a pretty brutal regime? Well the US criminal justice system seems pretty brutal and inhumane from this side of the pond – they lock up a higher percentage of their own citizens than any other country in the world (five times higher than the average) – that is horrible, don’t you think – and still have such a violent and fearful society that people feel the need to carry guns for self-defence.
That system does not seem to be working too well imho.
I suppose do you want to have a police state, lock up an obscene number of citizens (at great cost to the country) and still have high re-offending rates, or do you want to look to more liberal regimes that lock up a small number of people and have an enlightened rehabilitative regime and a dramatically lower re-offending rate.
I would go for the compassionate, intelligent, effective regime every time myself. We do not want to be like the USA in this country, with people carrying lethal weapons, the police shooting citizens dead in the streets, and a state that locks up so many of its citizens – and all to no effect with such a high violent crime rate.
It is an absolute mystery to me how the high number of Christian people in the US reconcile their beliefs (turn the other cheek, I was in prison and you visited me, judgement is mine, the greatest of these is love) with their harsh state regime.
Sorry, that last response was to Kris!
BTW Kris, when you say that very few of the inmates re-offend, do you mean when they come out of prison?
It works great, very few reoffend on release and it’s quite cost effective, the Sheriff is even taking meat out of their diets, should save an estimated $100,000…making it even less of an incentive to reoffend…while the incarceration may be tough, it goes back to the old line…If you’re not prepared to do the time, don’t do the crime”. Of course the usual Amnesty International types are giving out but as usual are quiet when it cones to the victims rights…
http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/09/27/americas-toughest-sheriff-takes-meat-off-jail-menu/
Kris, you are a walking talking argument against democracy. We give the vote to people like you. That’s mad.
If you commit a crime and you are sentenced to prison you lose your fundamental human right to liberty. The prison regime does infringe on prisoners human rights but it has nothing to do with the staff that work there it’s the regime that is in place. Prisoners are not beaten, bullied or belittled, quite the opposite. Staff are going out of their way everyday to positively encourage prisoners to engage with services etc. to make changes in their lives. The prison regime is flawed, don’t blame staff. If you were to ask prisoners in an open and honest manner what they thought of staff, I would say 99% of prisoners would have positive things to say about officers. To say that there are not ignorant, arrogant and negative people working in the prison service would be a lie but tell me that isn’t the same in every walk of life. Honestly if you don’t work in a prison with prisoners on a day to day basis, the simple fact of he matter is you just don’t know the reality! I’m all for an honest assessment of prisons and improving things for prisoners because in turn it makes it easier for staff to work. The inspector of prisons reports are not a honest reflection of prison. Ask the prisoners! Ask the staff! The people who are on the floor in prisons can tell you the reality.
When are we sending the prisoners on the Human Rights Course?
They are the only ones who have actually breached the human rights of others, the victims of their collective criminal activity.
What an absolute joke.
Okay….So the people who Rob, Rape, Murder and Maim people are experiencing a treatment deficit in the human rights Dept. Dear Minister Shatter,You are without equal when it comes to muppetry. You reign supreme.Somebody please revue his medication ,It is clearly effecting his reality perception.I am going out now to find an old crippled woman and I am going to kick the living bejasus out of her,In the hope, It may get me a university course in basic counter terrorism or possibly even an arts council grant.
By instinct I have little sympathy for the idea of prisoners’ rights.
But on the other hand, the countries which focus on it tend to have very much lower re-offending rates. This is a good thing. It reduces crime in the long run. There’s also mounting evidence that encouraging prisoners to complain about treatment they are not happy with is a good way of stopping them from taking out their frustrations violently.
What about the rights if their victims? Criminals don’t think like the rest if us and they will see this training as something to exploit. There are whole sections of society happy to use our freedoms and our PC culture to advance their own agendas. This training is a waste of money. When criminals start respecting the rights of others then they will get respect not before
How many of the people not working in a prison are there for not upholding Human rights?
Lots of commenters on here seem to be auditioning to be journalists with the Daily Mail or the Sun. Lots of nuanced and sophisticated arguments backed up by criminological research, that’s for sure.
Everyone is entitled to their human rights. But I would prefer to see the government uphold the human rights of the general public before we focus on the prison system. Water is a basic human right but this government have forged ahead with implementation of water charges. Where is the training course that tells the general public that due to their human rights they do not need to pay a company for their water. Hypocrisy of the highest order.
Water is a basic human right? In that case then so is having access to a functioning toilet and not having to s**t into a bucket which then stays in the same room as you and others for the rest of the night.
Comments have been posted here regarding people from “deprived backgrounds” which are extremely insulting to the majority from such a background who have not turned to crime while neglecting to mention those who have had it easy who do. Just look at the stories posted on the Journal today.
I for one don’t care much for Alan Shatter. Here we have a man along about human rights abuses in ireland yet he openly supports the Isreali state which is the biggest abuser of human rights in this planet. Double standards when it suits
I saw the headline, I saw the picture. I knew I’d have to check the comments because surely there would have to be an Israeli reference in there. Good to see anti-Semitism alive and well from certain commenters.
brian an anti-semitic comment would be aimed at all jews,his comments are however aimed at israeli’s who are major perpetrators of human rights abuse.educate yourself
Wrong Sean. Shatter and the rest of the government through their dealings also support China and Russia but no mention of human rights abuses there. Israel was mentioned purely because Shatter is Jewish and Israel is the only Jewish state. Otherwise he would have mentioned Ireland’s support for all human rights abusers.
israel is as far as i know the only state openly operating a concentration camp with the blessing of their us bankers.while other countries also carry out abuses indeed the british did in ireland up until the early 90′s it is unfair to label somebody anti-semitic for stating a fact
A concentration camp is a place where detainees are interned, typically under harsh conditions, without the ability to contact the outside world and where gender segregation occurs. In a concentration camp one can not work to earn money or purchase goods. None of this occurs in Israel or the occupied territories. Are there harsh conditions? Yes. Are there human rights abuses? Yes. But the conditions are far from what one would consider a concentration camp. The reason what he wrote is anti-Semitic is down to the fact that he implicitly linked Shatter’s Jewish identity on an article about the Irish justice system with Israel. Why instead didn’t he link Shatter with his government’s support of China where true concentration and work camps do exist? The only thing that’s different is the Jewish connection. There are no forced labour or concentration camps in Palestine; there are in China. Palestinians can voice concerns and criticism about Israel; political opponents and minorities in China can not. Palestinians have unrestricted telephone and internet access to the world; the Chinese do not. Palestinians are free to elect whomever they want (Hamas, Fatah, etc); the Chinese can not. Palestinians are free to join the army if they want; the Chinese are conscripted. Israel occupies Palestine; China occupies Tibet.
what graham suggested was that alan shatter was a hypocrite for advocating human rights in ireland whilst supporting israel,one of the most blatant oppressors of human rights.for this you branded him anti semitic even though he never mentioned jews,in doing so you oppressed his right to free speech although his statement was factually correct
Alan Shatter also supports China. Why was that country not mentioned? Shatter also supports Burma, Mali, etc. yet these countries weren’t mentioned. Why only mention Israel when Shatter supports other human rights abusers too? Was his comment factually correct? No. Where is the definitive proof that Israel is the worst abuser of human rights as was claimed? His comment, which happened to contain some elements of truth, claimed unproven facts as gospel and was biased against only one nation out of 200 with Judaism as the only common denominator. Believe it or not, but Shatter is on record for criticising Israel on several occasions. Unlike some, he views the world in colour, not monochrome like a certain section of commenters here. The fact also remains that neither Israel nor China were relevant to the topic at hand, it being entirely an Irish topic.
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