'The days of throwing away the key are gone': New approach to rehabilitating inmates at Cork Prison

“THE prison service has changed hugely in the last 10 years or so, and the case of locking prisoners up and throwing away the key is gone,” Ger Manley, governor of Cork Prison, told The Echo in an interview at the prison.

“Nowadays we’re looking at rehabilitating prisoners through our workshops, through MTU bringing in lecturers who will help give them the skills they need to get jobs on the outside.” Mr Manley has served in the role of governor for the last 12 months.

When Mr Manley spoke to The Echo, the prison was about to host its second pop-up restaurant, with meals prepared by prisoners who have graduated from the practical culinary skills course, a collaboration between the Irish Prison Service and the Munster Technological University (MTU), the Cork Education and Training Board (ETB) and the Irish Association for Social Inclusion Opportunities (IASIO).

The night would prove to be a big success, with a number of the graduates receiving job offers from hotels and restaurants. One graduate was offered immediate employment and started as a chef this week. Another graduate is due for release in the coming months and has received an offer of employment with a Cork hotel (see panel).

“From the prison’s perspective, we’re looking at rehabilitating prisoners, we’re looking at training them so that when they do go back out, they’ll have an opportunity, with the skills they’ve got in here, to get work,” Mr Manley said.

“It’s about realising the potential that prisoners have. We’re lucky ourselves that things fell right for us, but some of these lads, a bit of bad luck, wrong career choices, and now we’re trying to put them on the right track.

“I often say to prisoners, ‘If we were in opposite chairs, and I had your upbringing…’ Sometimes it’s where you live, sometimes it’s peer pressure, sometimes you just take the wrong road. You could be from a very well-to-do family and you could just take the wrong career choice.

“Basically, what we’re trying to do when they do come in here is give them that support they’ve lacked or need, and we do that through education, and work training, and they get a good structure in here.” 

COURSES

Mr Manley said Cork Prison offers many different courses, including painting, horticulture, and carpentry, but he said the process of participation is not always easy, with some prisoners lacking basic literacy skills when they begin their sentence.

“We’re lucky to have the partnership with MTU and other outside agencies such as IASIO, and the ETB,” he said. 

“The ETB are so good to us. We have a full-time school here, with a full-time principal and teachers. In some cases we would be talking about teaching basic reading and writing, so, if you like, we’re teaching from baby infants right up to university level.

“Often the opportunities you get in life depend on where you came from, and whether you went to school.”

Mr Manley said the prison system has a renewed focus on rehabilitation in recent years, something he credits in large part to the Prison Service’s director general, Caron McCaffrey, who was appointed in 2018.

“The present DG is really pushing the idea that we have to be all about rehabilitation, and she’s right. It’s coming from the top down, and everybody is engaging. The staff here in Cork are doing a brilliant job,” he said.

“We’re trying to rehabilitate prisoners, and when they come in we’re trying to give them more options. We give them one chance, two chances, three chances, and we have to, just to help them back into society, because some of them have had a bit of bad luck.

“You have your career criminals, unfortunately that’s in the system as well, but anybody that is looking for an opportunity is given one in the prison system. Every prisoner is given a sentence management plan put in front of them when they come in, an officer meets them and they have a plan and all the agencies are involved, the medical side, education, and once the prisoner wants to engage, we encourage them, but we can’t force the,” he said.

“Some lads coming in here are embracing the opportunity to work, they know it gives them better opportunities, and it gets them released earlier as well, but if they engage, the way forward is to try and get them employment before they go out.

“Ninety percent of the time, some of them never got chances.”

SUCCESS STORY

William is described by Cork Prison governor Ger Manley as “a real success story” in the Prison Service’s focus on rehabilitation of prisoners and their reintegration into society.

Coming from a disadvantaged background, William had left school early and a chaotic life of addiction and crime had led eventually to a four-year sentence in Cork Prison.

“I went down a bad road with drink and drugs and I came to a low point in my life where I needed to change,” the 36-year-old told The Echo over a coffee in a Cork hotel.

In Cork Prison he began working in the kitchen, cooking for approximately 300 prisoners every day. From there, he was promoted to the officers’ mess, where he was recommended for the practical culinary skills course.

The programme, which is an intensive eight-week course offering prisoners the experience of working in a restaurant kitchen, is a collaboration between the Irish Prison Service and the Munster Technological University (MTU), the Cork Education and Training Board (ETB) and the Irish Association for Social Inclusion Opportunities (IASIO).

When William completed the course, he and his five fellow graduates catered for a full meal at a pop-up restaurant in Cork Prison last year, meeting some 30 prospective employers from the restaurant industry.

All six graduates were offered work, and of the six, four are currently in full-time employment, with the other two currently completing their sentences, and they have job offers awaiting when they come out.

William said that completing the culinary course and taking up full-time work had completely changed his life. “I’m respected and liked by people in the community. I never had that before. They know my history, but they know who I am now as well.

Governor Ger Manley said William’s successes were thanks to his own hard work in embracing the opportunities offered to him in prison.

“William got a job coming out of here, and he’s nearly 12 months on and he’s got two promotions since. He said the proudest moment was when his daughter said ‘Are you going to work tomorrow’, because he had never had a job before,” Mr Manley said. 

“He just didn’t get the opportunities before.” 

Last week, Cork Prison hosted its second Open Door pop-up restaurant, with prospective employers meeting this year’s six graduates.

Colm Carey, resettlement co-ordinator with IASIO, told The Echo there had been several expressions of interest from employers, with one graduate being released on Monday morning of this week and starting in his new role as a chef this Thursday.