The needs of children whose parents are in jail should be enshrined in prison policy and not left to the whims of governors, the governor of Mountjoy Prison in Dublin said yesterday.
Mr John Lonergan was speaking at the publication of research which detailed the damage imprisonment does to parent-children relationships.
The study, the first of its kind in Ireland, is critical of the visiting facilities in Mountjoy men's prison and the lack of physical contact allowed between male inmates and their children.
The report, Parents, Children and Prison: The Effects of Parental Imprisonment on Children, is based on research conducted in Mountjoy Prison last summer.
Twenty-six prisoners, including five females and 19 "care-givers" who use the prison's modern visitors centre, were surveyed. More than 96 per cent said it was difficult to maintain a relationship with their children while in prison.
Among the reasons given for this was the shortness of visiting times, the conditions of visiting areas and the parents' loss of authority in the home.
Most of the care-givers said their children's behaviour towards the incarcerated parent had changed since the start of the sentence. The changes included awkwardness, increased affection during visits and shyness.
"All of this led to worries of the effects of imprisonment on the long-term relationship with the child and parent." Almost two-thirds of the parents in prison and 68 per cent of care-givers said their children were not aware that one parent was incarcerated.
They were told the parent was at work, in the army, the navy or hospital. However, several people said their children had guessed or had some idea about the reason for the parent's absence.
Among the main reasons for not telling children about the sentence was that they were too young to understand, they might get too upset or might think it was acceptable to go to prison.
While prisoners were generally positive about facilities in the recently built female prison, inmates were particularly critical of the visiting area in the male prison.
The report's general recommendations include parenting courses for prisoners and greater efforts to maintain physical contact between prisoners and children.