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Caron McCaffrey is the Director-General of the Irish Prison Service.
In October 2021, Caron McCaffrey was elected to become the next President of EuroPris. EuroPris interviews Caron to get an insight into her current position as a Director-General of the Irish Prison Service and her motivations for applying for the EuroPris presidency.
How long have you worked for the Irish Prison Service?
I have worked for over 20 years in the Justice Sector, first serving in the Department of Justice before taking up a role in the Irish Prison Service in 2006 as Press and Programme Manager. I was promoted to Director of Corporate Services in 2008 and I have also had responsibility for a range of portfolios at Director level including Human Resources, Finance and Estates. I was appointed Director General of the Irish Prison Service in December 2018. I am deeply privileged to lead and serve an organisation made up of incredible men and women who work tirelessly every day to work with those in their care to address the factors that gave rise to their offending behaviour and thereby ensuring we have fewer victims of crime and safer communities across Ireland.
Similar to prison services across Europe, we face new challenges and opportunities every day. Many of the challenges we face are also common to most services from overcrowding in prisons and security issues such as preventing drugs and contraband; to prisoner welfare challenges including dealing with the increasing prevalence of prisoners with serious mental illness and now to the current challenges of managing the prison system during a global pandemic.
Which prison stands out to you the most in Ireland or in another country, and why?
I have always believed in the importance of visiting prisons and meeting with staff and prisoners as often as possible. I try to visit a prison every week and am always struck that while each prison is unique in its own right there are many common features – most notable to me the enthusiasm and pride staff take in the role they perform and the determination of offenders to make the best use of their time to grow and learn as individuals. Each institution in Ireland works hard to deliver on our mission of providing safe and secure custody, dignity of care, and rehabilitation to prisoners for safer communities.
Against the backdrop of COVID-19, I have found it to be even more essential to visit our prisons regularly, to thank staff and prisoners in person for their incredible efforts to manage the risk of Covid in what are vulnerable congregated settings, to demonstrate empathy, and to engage with people directly to understand what their concerns are. During my regular visits, I have been moved by the many stories from the people in our care and also inspired by the efforts made by staff, at all levels, to provide support and encouragement to those, especially our most vulnerable prisoners.
What have you learned from leading an organization like the Irish Prison Service through a global pandemic?
The Covid-19 pandemic has been a crisis like no other and as leaders, our response to the crisis has been under intense scrutiny. The crisis has reminded me of need to always prioritise the needs of people. Covid-19 has touched every single person across the globe. Given the impact that the pandemic has had on our communities, it is hugely important that we continue to consider the impact of our response on people and to mitigate, to the greatest extent possible, the impact on all our wellbeing.
As a Service, we have collectively navigated this crisis through robust engagement, sound decision making and strong communications.
I have learned, above all, that while prisons are institutions governed by rules and procedures, they are also capable of a level of agility, resilience and responsiveness I had never imagined possible. I am hugely proud of the sacrifices both our staff and prisoners have made individually and collectively to keep each other safe. I have no doubt that the sense of pride I feel is shared by heads of services and prison staff across Europe who have also gone to great lengths to protect those in their care.
What was your aspiration for applying for the EuroPris presidency?
I am a passionate believer in the mission and vision of EuroPris to, inter alia, be a center of expertise for prison services across Europe and to seek to develop best practice and professionalism within our profession.
For the last 2 and a half years, I have been a proud and active member of the board of EuroPris.
I believe that the value of EuroPris has been realized and strengthened over the past two years as we have shared our experiences of managing the Covid-19 pandemic and learned from each other. I very much look forward to working will all our members to build on this success into the future and firmly believe that by working together we can improve our individual services delivering better workplaces for staff and better outcomes for prisoners.
During your presidential term, what would you like to achieve within the organization?
EuroPris is an organization made up of 33 individual services that are all committed to improving professional prison practice. My view is that the Board and Executive of EuroPris should be primarily motivated by ensuring we engage and listen to member organizations to deliver activities and develop best practices in areas identified by members as most critical and relevant. Ensuring our resources and message gets delivered to frontline staff across all services is also a priority for me and developing better communication tools and practices will be a specific priority for me as President.
The strength of EuroPris as an organization is very much dependent on the full engagement of all members so I look forward to developing strategic relationships with our members in the coming months and years as we seek to implement the ambitious work program set out in our Strategic Plan.