Indicators for Standard:

Indicators for Standard 17

Indicator S17.1: The number of dedicated ISM officers across the estate and their caseloads.

There has been no change to the number of ISM officers across the estate, which is 23.

Indicator S17.2: Number of life-sentenced prisoners with an allocated ISM officer and active sentence plan in 2019. (new)

ISM officers by prison^[371]

^{Note: * Prison capacity figures include prisoners that are serving a sentence of less than one year. Additionally, prisoner numbers exceed some of these capacities.}

The IPS has said it is not currently possible to provide an accurate figure for active ISM caseloads broken down by sentence category, but an IT system designed to support ISM is currently under construction. ^[372]

Life-sentenced prisoners with allocated ISM coordinator

^{Note: PIMS: Prison Information Management System. According to the IPS, an ISM coordinator intervention record can include: first contact assessment interview; case notes regarding a personal implementation plan or community integration plan; or case notes regarding ongoing engagement between the prisoner, the ISM Coordinator and other multi-disciplinary services. The IPS describes the above information as “an indication of ISM involvement in case management as a range of material is also recorded on paper files which cannot be accessed without an individual trawl of prisoner files”.}

Indicator S17.3: Number of families who were invited to participate in the ISM process. (new)

Family conferences are not yet a feature of the ISM process.

Analysis

Given the PPRG recommendation that all prisoners serving more than 12 months should be eligible for ISM, the number of ISM officers allocated per prison is very low. The scale of interventions cannot be fully met. In England and Wales, a key worker scheme is being rolled out across the entire closed prison male estate, with prison officers managing five to six prisoners on a one-to-one basis. ^[373] This could be a target ratio for ISM in prisons in Ireland.

While IPRT welcomes that information on ISM coordinator intervention is recorded on PIMS, this does not currently include the number of cases per ISM officer nor the number of life-sentenced prisoners with an active ISM management plan.

It is imperative that sentence management is cohesive, particularly for life-sentenced prisoners following the commencement of new legislation that increases to 12 years the eligibility for their first parole review. ^[374]

Despite emphasis on the importance of facilitating family involvement in sentence and release planning, there appears to be no structured format in which family members can participate in the process.

Status of Standard 17: No change