Vol. 436 No. 5
121 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Justice the total current annual cost of the provision of the prison system; if she will give a breakdown of the costs showing capital expenditure, maintenance and repairs, operational cost of existing prisons, probation and welfare services, supply and cooking of meals and special meals, provision of medical services and medication, provision of recreational facilities and all other relevant costs.
A total of £96.084 million is provided in the Prison Vote in 1993 for the operation of the prison system and the Probation and Welfare Service. This figure includes provisions for capital expenditure of £7.950 million of which £7.5 million is for the Prison Service and £0.450 million for the Probation and Welfare Service. The figure also includes £8.315 million for the staffing and operation of the Probation and Welfare Service. These must be excluded to arrive at the provision for the operation of the prisons system itself — provision for this is £79.819 million. This equates to an annual cost of approximately £37,000 per head of the prisoner population.
The provisions under the various headings are shown each year in the Book of Estimates, copies of which are available in the Dáil Library.
