asked the Minister for Justice if he will state in statistical form the standard of education of the inmates of Irish prisons, institution by institution, for the years 1971 and 1972.
202.
Written Answers. - Irish Prison Inmates.
201.
asked the Minister for Justice the number of male persons received on conviction at Irish prisons in 1971 and 1972.
203.
asked the Minister for Justice the number of female persons received on conviction at Irish prisons in 1971 and 1972.
204.
asked the Minister for Justice the number of prisoners out of the total number in each of the years 1971 and 1972 who had previously served prison sentences.
205.
asked the Minister for Justice the number of prisoners out of the total number in each of the years 1971 and 1972 who had previously served sentences of (a) one to five (b) five to ten (c) ten to 15 (d) 15 to 20 and (e) more than 20 years.
206.
asked the Minister for Justice the number of prisoners between the ages of 60 and 70 received during 1971 and 1972.
207.
asked the Minister for Justice the number of persons, if any, aged 70 and over imprisoned during 1971 and 1972.
208.
asked the Minister for Justice the number of prisoners over the age of 60 years in prison at present.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to answer Questions Nos. 201 to 208 together. Statistics on the lines sought in these questions have not yet been compiled for the years 1971 and 1972. Much information of the type sought is contained in the Annual Reports on Prisons. The latest report to be published is that for 1970 and some work has been done on the reports for 1971 and 1972. However, the heavy demands on the staff of the prison service in the last couple of years has led to arrears in statistical analysis and in other work not essential to the maintenance and development of the service. These demands arose from the almost doubling of the prison population in the last five years, from the acquisition of new detention centres and their equipment and from various disturbances that took place in the prisons, among them the riot in May, 1972, which destroyed large portions of Mountjoy Prison.
Prison staff could not be diverted to statistical and similar work in the immediate future except at the expense of urgent current work and essential planning, but work on the 1971 and 1972 reports will be resumed as soon as possible with a view to the publication of the reports with the minimum delay.