Vol. 488 No. 6
56 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number who avail of the detoxification programme in Mountjoy prison, Dublin 7, who are arrested for a different offence within a year; the reoffending rate for prisoners in Mountjoy prison who do not avail of the detoxification programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6776/98]
The precise information requested by the Deputy is not available. Not every person who has served a prison sentence and been arrested for another offence is committed to prison. For those who are concerned the manual records in Mountjoy Prison are not maintained in a fashion which would allow the information to be readily extracted. I can, however, advise the Deputy that approximately 1,650 prisoners received the standard 14 day detoxification programme in the prison during 1997 but I cannot say how many of these offenders were released from custody and subsequently arrested for another offence.
