IPS – At present 4078 prisoners In custody* Circa 3300 staff €318 million budget 14 Prisons * 30 th August2013

Background - IPS Mission, Vision and Values …challenges and opportunities… …our mission, vision and values become who we are… Our Mission: Providing safe and secure custody, dignity of care and rehabilitation to prisoners for safer communities. Our Vision: A safer community through excellence in a prison service built on respect for human dignity.

IPS – 3 year strategic plan Strategic Action – “We will examine the possibility of introducing, on a pilot basis, restorative justice practices in a prisons context”. Confident language?

Where to start? Prisons and restorative practice, mutually exclusive? Traditional prison values and restorative values – Conflicting paradigms? Punitive values Restorative values Punishing Healing Control Empowering Excluding Including, participating Untrustworthy Respect Treat the guilty as passive Expect personal accountability Security Order based on negotiating Regimentation Honouring individuality Adapted from ‘RJ in Prisons – a guide to making it happen’ (Edgar and Newell, 2006)

RP ‘Pilot’ sites Dóchas Centre – Mountjoy Campus - A closed, medium security prison for females aged 18 years and over. (Av 135 in custody August 2013) Wheatfield Prison – West Dublin Campus - A closed, medium security prison for adult males. (Av 587 in custody August 2013)

Embedding restorative principles Prison – a community within itself Changing the culture step by step Laying the foundation for VOM Preparing prisoners for reintegration

What have we done to date – Information campaign Intensive training programme Symbolic reparation to the external community Suspending suitable disciplinary adjudications pending RP process outcomes Informal and formal conflict resolution Using RP philosophy to inform how we approach our work

Introduction - Governor David Eagleson Northern Ireland Prison Service