Vol. 443 No. 8
67 Ms O'Donnell asked the Minister for Justice the number of young people who were placed in Mountjoy Prison in each of the past three years; the plans, if any, she has to provide accommodation for children under 16 years of age who are sentenced to a term of imprisonment; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
The number of committals to Mountjoy Prison of persons under 21 years of age for the years 1991 and 1992 was 264 and 356 respectively. The relevant information in respect of 1993 is not yet available.
The committal of a child between 15 and 17 in the case of a girl, or 15 and 16 in the case of a boy, to an adult prison can only be effected where he or she is charged with or has been convicted of a criminal offence and where the trial judge has signed an unruly certificate under section 97 or 102 of the Children Act 1908. The number of such children committed to adult prisons annually is very small. The new female prison currently being planned will include a separate provision for girls. Committed males who are between 15 and 16 years of age will continue to be accommodated at the Place of Detention, Wheatfield, the most modern facility available, which caters specifically for younger offenders; those on remand are at present accommodated in Mountjoy but I am examining the possibility of accommodating these also in Wheatfield. I should add that custodial facilities for children under 15 years of age, and those over 15 for whom there is not an unruly certificate, are the responsibility of the Minister for Education.
