There is 'structural racism in our criminal justice system' From unfair treatment to overuse of protection regimes, part two of our BlindJustice investigative series with noteworthy_ie examines inequality in Ireland’s prison system
“I WAS NEVER in trouble and I don’t even understand why I went [to prison]… The judge looks at you in a different way. They think that when they see a Traveller, that they’re going to be always in trouble.”
The justice system as a whole has let her down throughout her life, with Wilde saying the gardaí treated her unfairly and like she “was an outcast”. “I wasn’t treated at all like I was a human being.” The majority of the offences male Travellers were serving sentences for related to theft, burglary or robbery. Equally, the majority of the Traveller women in prison on that day – 11 out of the total of 16- were serving sentence for theft.
Maria Joyce, coordinator with the National Traveller Women’s Forum said consideration also has to be given to the role of policing and the poor relationship that has existed between the community and An Garda Síochána for many years. Recent workshops conducted by the Travellers Equality Justice Project and Cork Traveller Women’s Network had similar findings, with the majority surveyed reporting “that they had experienced prejudiced or racist remarks from the bench during their interactions with the Court’s system”.
“The Probation Service is now looking at a new tool that is more sensitive to ethnic minorities and in the meantime we’re asking them to change the way they interpret those assessments and the way they are presented to a judge. “Even when the K-word is being used, there sometimes isn’t an understanding of how problematic that is… People don’t realise that they only use that word with negative connotations, even if you’re not using it to describe a Traveller, it is still offensive.”
She said that while some prison officers are doing their jobs well, those who hold openly negative views of Travellers in women’s prisons can “make life difficult” for the women.Source: Photo - Oireachtas TV The reported added that “in most cases, the women involved did not feel safe to make complaints in writing to the governor for fear of further penalisation from the staff involved”.
The training also encourages prison officers to “invest additional time in communicating with and supporting Travellers to engage with service providers, avail of entitlements or apply for privileges”, according to a spokesperson.Because Wilde didn’t feel comfortable around other inmates due to their harsh treatment of her, she was place on a protection regime.
However, she said that “it’s not always being explained well enough to people what that will mean in terms of the freedom they’ll have or the opportunities to gain privileges”. Costello referenced a pilot in Castlerea prison in which a prisoner who is a Traveller did meet-and-greets with Travellers who were new to the prison.
Another prison rule requires the Director General to review this after 21 days and it can be extended for a further 7 days after which time it must be reviewed again. Maria Joyce from the National Traveller Women’s Forum, said the consequences for children can be particularly severe if their mother goes to prison.
“That makes it hard to maintain the relationship and to rebuild the bond when they get out of prison,” she said, adding that it can also be challenging for mothers to put structures back in place to ensure their children can come back to live with them on their release. Her partner’s stints in jail feel like prison sentences for Pamela too, as she explained that she can not socialise when he’s not there.
Although she knows difficult experiences in her partner’s youth likely contributed to his criminal behaviour and addiction, she has angry moments. “There was only a year between them. I had to cope with the death of one son and another who wanted to be dead… After that, he just didn’t care about his life or anything else.”
Pamela said her partner had been trying for a number of weeks before his most recent offence to access mental health treatment. Pamela has arranged access to a local drug councillor for her partner for when he is released from prison. She is worried that the supports on the outside won’t be enough to keep him off alcohol and drugs or to address the deeper mental health issues he has.
She said that he was frightened and “locking himself in his cell”. He told her that he dragged his 17-year-old brother who died “out of hell” but said that now “he was his brother… buried in the grave”. “There’s a revolving door system for some women, they’re the most vulnerable of Traveller women and they end up trapped in a cycle of being released and going back in,” she said.
She said she would have benefited from this at the time as well as after she was released from prison. “I felt myself going in on my own, inside myself.” It is anticipated that this increase in staffing will support a reduction in wait times, in conjunction with systemic support in relation to improve day-to-day client access. The Psychology Service ensures that it takes into consideration Traveller-specific needs when engaging in assessment and individual formulation and interventions, the IPS spokesperson said.
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