A system is already in place for people to serve a total life sentence in Ireland, a former governor of Mountjoy Prison has said.
John Lonergan was speaking amid continued debate around whether a life sentence should mean life in prison.
Mr Lonergan told Lunchtime Live just because people have a right to appear before a parole board, they don't have an automatic right to release.
"We have a system in place at the moment that, when it's necessary, a person can serve a total life sentence - meaning that they die in prison," he said.
"So that system is there; it's at the discretion of the Parole Board now, so a person has to prove themselves.
"If a young man commits a very serious crime like murder at 20, and in 20 years' time he's 40, often that person is a completely different person.
"They grow up, they mature, they get a lot of help in prison if they're interested.
"[If] a Parole Board is satisfied that they present no risk to society on release, then I think that's a very positive thing."
'Very positive system'
Mr Lonergan said he knows several people who have served long sentences and never reoffended.
"I know hundreds of people who have served life sentences and have re-entered society - some of them 25, 30, 40, years ago - and they have never reoffended," he said.
"Our system, while it has its flaws, is certainly a very positive system I think and it still saves people".
"We have lots of people who will never get out of prison, and so this idea that everybody that goes before the Parole Board is automatically released is just not true."
However Mr Lonergan admitted you "most certainly cannot" guarantee that prisoners will be habilitated.
Restorative justice
Mr Lonergan also rejected a suggestion of mandatory restorative justice practices.
Restorative justice involves a conversation between a victim, a person who has committed a crime against them and an independent person.
The approach challenges people who commit crime to take responsibility, put right the harm done and refrain from further offending.
Mr Lonergan said by its nature it must be voluntary.
"No restorative justice practices can be mandatory, because the whole principal must be that the person entered into them with full consent, agreement and commitment to it," he said.
"That's why many victims will not participate in restorative practices because they cannot do that, and I understand that and accept that.
"Restorative justice will only work where both sides are voluntarily involved in it and are totally enthusiastic to try o make it work.
"THere's an element of retribution in it, there's an element of punishment in it; but there's also the principal that at the of the process, the person can be reintegrated into society," he added.
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