Changes limiting the ability of District Courts to jail criminals would be a licence to commit crime, the local District Court judge has said.
At Mullingar District Court, Judge Seamus Hughes made his comments in response to suggestions made by the Director General of the Prison Services to deal with prison overcrowding.
Michael Donnellan proposes allowing prisoners serving less than 12 months to serve their sentences in the community, through “robust community alternatives” which would be agreed in cooperation with the judiciary.
However, Judge Hughes, who saw Michael Donnellan on television on Wednesday evening, said it seemed that sentences below 12 months, which is the most the District Court can impose for a single offence, appear to be “targetted” by the proposed changes.
If he had no option to send people to prison, “I might as well close down shop,” he said, adding that limiting the prison sanctions available to him would create “a licence to commit crime”.
The only conclusion he could draw from Wednesday’s comments, was that there would be a “mass exodus” of prisoners, many jailed by the District Court.
“It would be demoralising to all except defence solicitors,” he observed.
The District Court, he said, deals with 90 per cent of court cases but the inference he had drawn from Mr Donnellan’s comments is that prison is not a suitable sanction for those who appear before the District Court.
If Mr Donnellan spent a week in the District Court or on patrol with gardaí, he would realise he “shouldn’t interfere with something that’s working - at least to a modicum”.
Judge Hughes acknowledged inadequacies in sentencing options available to the courts, and the contrast between the maximum twelve month sentence “for stealing a bar of chocolate” and the insufficient maximum of six months under the Road Traffic Act.
Referring to a drink driving case before him, where Mykola Ignatyugin, Yeomanstown Stud, Naas, Kildare had two previous convictions for having no insurance and two for dangerous driving, he said the six months he was imposing was not enough.
Ignatyugin (27 ) had been disqualified for two years in 2009 and four years in 2010 and was disqualified when he committed the latest offence in December.
That the road safety legislation aims to reduce deaths on the road, while the Prison Service wants to limit the effect of sentences less than 12 months, indicates that “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing,” the judge said.
Community Service is an admirable but limited alternative to prison, he said, and is not always suitable.
Judge Hughes said he didn’t know how effective the suggested liaison with the judiciary would be, but said he’s sure changes would have a detrimental effect on the morale of An Garda Siochána.
