Máirín Quill
Question:65 Miss Quill asked the Minister for Justice the number of serious assaults on prison officers by inmates in each of the past three years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2190/97]
Written Answers. - Assaults on Prison Officers.
There is a difficulty with defining what constitutes a serious assault but, nevertheless, it is my view that all assaults on prison officers are serious. However, for the purpose of this question, I presume the Deputy is seeking to know how many assaults were serious in so far as they resulted in physical or psychological injury to officers who subsequently required medical, surgical, psychological or psychiatric treatment or absence from duty as a result.
Over the period of 1994-96, there were 141 assaults which could be classified as serious in the prison service, as a result of which officers required medical treatment either from the prison surgery, as hospital outpatients or inpatients or from their own medical doctors. There were 44 such serious assaults in 1994, 52 in 1995 and 45 in 1996.