JIM SHEEHAN,
Sir, - The recently publicised report on the impact of parental imprisonment on children (The Irish Times, June 7th) brings to light a matter needing the urgent attention of our incoming Government - namely, the protection, in the short and long term, of the family relationships of prisoners.
Perhaps the neglect of the needs of the children of prisoners is the most obvious gap in provision. The families of prisoners across the country know only too well what the lack of adequate childcare facilities in prisons means for parent-child relationships. Usually it means that the crisis of parental absence from the home is accompanied by a gradual deterioration, through lack of opportunities for regular and meaningful interaction, of a critical bond in the child's life.
In the vast majority of situations the children of prisoners are an already vulnerable group of children of already vulnerable parents. The failure to provide adequate protection for these parent-child relationships merely increases this vulnerability all around. What we need is a clear Government commitment to providing the sort of childcare facilities in every prison in the State that would allow these parents and children regular opportunities to be together in ways that would provide for the maintenance and development of relationships across various periods of children's lives. We need to take the blunt edge off the event of imprisonment that too often, and unnecessarily, victimises a whole series of family relationships in the process of detaining an adult in prison.
The second relationship that usually suffers a monumental blow through imprisonment is that between a prisoner and his or her spouse or partner. Having worked as a family therapist in the health and social services for many years, it is clear to me that we do not yet make any serious effort to protect couple bonds during or after imprisonment. Regularly, contact opportunities for couples are limited to letters and a kind of direct contact where the intimacy levels permitted would more readily foster a separation process rather than the protection of a bond through a crisis. What we need is a more positive approach that seeks to understand the needs of each couple and provide the kind of space and facilities they require to maintain their relationship should they wish to do so.
A third gap in the State's response to imprisonment concerns an aftercare service. The movement from prison back towards family and community constitutes a journey with many hazards. We need an appropriately funded statutory aftercare service with community-based initiatives aimed at helping people to re-integrate into family and community. At this time of transition in Government, the challenge is there for a variety of Departments to co-ordinate and produce a policy that would do a little more justice to the family relationships of those in prison. - Yours, etc.,
JIM SHEEHAN,
Windsor Road,
Dublin 6.