The Gate Service

Business in the Community Ireland’s Gate Service is a prison based guidance and placement service funded by the Irish Prison Service (IPS). It was set-up following the success of its sister programme, the Linkage Service, which as a probation project primarily operates in the community. The Gate, Linkage and Mentoring Services all aim to help offenders re-integrate into the community through accessing employment, education, and training opportunities.

There are some striking statistics about Irish prisons: 87.5%of sentenced committals in 2008 were for non-violent offences; and 3,366 people were jailed for non-payment of fines in 2009. 60%of people serving sentences of 6 months or less are poor and often homeless and the majority of all prisoners never sat a state exam and left school before they were 15. The cost of a prison space in 2008 was €92,717 per person.

The question for the new Gate Service was… could it duplicate the success of the Linkage Service in the difficult operating environment of the prison? The answer, almost immediately evident but since proven, was yes. The Gate Service excelled and is now considered as mainstreamed by the IPS. It has been successfully implemented in each of the prisons it operates, has received over 1,000 prisoner referrals and forged deep connections with the community.

The Gate Service currently employs four Training and Employment Officers (TEOs) operating in the following six prisons: Mountjoy, St. Patrick’s Institution, The Dochas Centre, the Training Unit, the Midlands Prison and Portlaoise Prison. The TEOs primary task is the provision of ‘guidance’ and ‘placement’ services to prisoners referred from the different agencies making up the prison environment, for example the Work and Training section of the IPS, the Probation Service, The Education Unit, Psychology and Chaplaincy.

 The Gate Service is different to many of the agencies operating in the prison because it provides through care from the prison to the community. The TEO follows the client into the community, offering continuous support that contributes to the client’s stability and hence desistance from crime. A major part of the resettlement and desistance process is working to realise the client’s access to employment. It is employers who offer the means to a client’s ultimate independence, and as such they are fundamental to the Gate Service.

However, it is not just employment that a business can offer, it can also offer work experience and job sampling opportunities, advice and expertise where appropriate. Such opportunities are not lost on Gate Service clients and where a trial period does lead to the offer of work, the client in all probability will be more appreciative than the usual job applicant, and often as a result become a dedicated and very loyal employee. The Gate Service has shown there can be mutual benefit between it and employers and it is a challenge for the future that this benefit becomes fully realised. For further information please contact Employment Programmes Manager Paddy Richardson on +353 (01) 874 7232.