Only two addiction counsellors but 100 on waiting list for services at Cork Prison

There are currently over 100 people waiting for addiction services from just two addiction counsellors in Cork Prison, leading to concerns that people will be released without accessing any support.

Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan has said that it is the policy of the Irish Prison Service (IPS) that where a person committed to prison gives a history of opiate use and tests positive for opioids, they are offered a medically assisted, symptomatic detoxification and are offered treatments including stabilisation on methadone.

Mr O’Callaghan went on to say that the prison addiction service also provides counselling and intervention skills, including “interviewing and enhancement therapy, a 12-step facilitation programme, cognitive behavioural therapy, and harm reduction approaches and people in custody are offered one to one counselling and group work interventions”.

However, as of January this year, there are just 18 counsellors nationally, and 953 people on waiting lists to access addiction treatment, including 103 on waiting lists in Cork Prison with only two counsellors available.

Mr O’Callaghan added that nationally, the current sanctioned quota for addiction counsellors is 20, with attempts underway to recruit additional counsellors.

'HIGHLY DAMAGING'

Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central Thomas Gould said that the wait time meant many people were likely getting out of prison before ever accessing services: “The purpose of addiction counselling and addiction services in prison is to give people the best possible opportunity at rehabilitation and recovery.

“We heard last year from the Irish Prison Service and others about the negative impact short sentences have on individuals. Their lives in the community are uprooted but they are not in prison for a long enough time to access supports. This can be highly damaging for people who are in the early stages of a recovery journey and it serves no benefit to society.

“I cannot begin to imagine how difficult it is for the two addiction counsellors in Cork Prison given the overwhelming levels of need. What we need to see is an increase in addiction counsellors and addiction nurses in prisons alongside a review of the short-term sentences.”

James Leonard, known for The Two Norries podcast, previously told The Echo: “The prison service is a terrible option for people in addiction”, saying that waiting lists for psychological services were routinely more than twice as long as addiction service lists.

“If you’re in prison under 12 months, you get out before you get off the waiting list for any services. In my case, all my sentences were less than 12 months, but I was in and out — you can go your whole life constantly slipping through the cracks. Overcrowding just makes everything more complicated.”

On Thursday, there were 356 people in Cork prison, 60 more than the prison had capacity for. Last month, there were 376 people in the prison, representing a record breaking 76 inmates sleeping on floors.

The Irish Prison Service said that it “must accept into custody all people committed to prison by the Courts” so “has no control over the numbers committed to custody at any given time”