Vol. 423 No. 5
60 Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Justice the number of prison inmates at present who (a) have primary level education only; the number who have primary and second level education but who dropped out from second level education; the number who attended third level college; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Information in relation to the educational attainments of prisoners does not become available as a matter of course and cannot always be elicited. Consequently, it is not possible to provide the precise information sought.
Sampling exercises conducted by education staff in prisons indicate that less than half of all prisoners receive any formal education beyond primary school and that perhaps one quarter to one third of all prisoners have serious reading and writing problems.
A wide ranging education programme is made available in all prisons and priority is given to prisoners who are most educationally disadvantaged. The courses provided range from basic literacy and numeracy to third level education. At present the Department of Education provides 130 full-time teacher equivalents to work in prisons and places of detention and prisoners who wish to participate in education are accommodated irrespective of their ability or attainments.
