asked the Minister for Justice if his attention has been drawn to reports that persons sentenced to serve terms of imprisonment in Mountjoy Prison and to be detained in St. Patrick's Institution are not serving their full sentences because of overcrowding; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Prison Sentences.
983.
I am well aware of the position and I do not have to rely on newspaper reports to be conscious of the facts.
The position is unsatisfactory but, for the present, the alternatives are the early release of selected offenders or doubling up in the institutions on a scale not heretofore thought to be acceptable.
For a general statement on the matter I would refer the Deputy to the reply given on 1 May 1980 by the then Minister for Justice to parliamentary questions on the subject, Official Report, Vol. 320, Cols. 518 to 522.
984.
asked the Minister for Justice the number of persons sentenced to detention in St. Patrick's Institution during 1981 and 1982 to date; and if he will state in respect of those persons, how many served the full sentence imposed by the court or the full sentence less normal remission.
The number of persons sentenced to detention in St. Patrick's Institution during 1981 was 643. The number sentenced in 1982 to date was 473.
The number of persons who were released having served their full sentences less the statutory remission was 133 in 1981 and 12 in 1982 to date. Some of these persons, of course, may have been committed before the year during which they were released.