Vol. 411 No. 4
122 Mr. Bell asked the Minister for Justice the number of (a) male, (b) female prisoners in each prison in each of the last ten years; the percentage increase each year; and the number that each prison can reasonably accommodate without overcrowding.
The latest ten year period for which figures are readily available is 1979-88 and they are contained in the annual reports on prisons and places of detention which are available in the Oireachtas Library. Comparable statistics for 1989 and 1990 are being compiled at present and will be published in due course in the annual reports for those years.
"Overcrowding" is a relative term and there is no clear definition as to what it means in a prison context. At present the prison system is managing to accommodate some 2,200 prisoners at any one time.
