Written Answers. - Prisoner Releases.
Bernard J. Durkan
Question:
70
Mr. Durkan
asked the
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
the number of prisoners who have been released prior to completion of their sentences in the past 12 months for reasons other than normal early release for good behaviour and so on; the reason for their release; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[20186/98]
Bernard J. Durkan
Question:
342
Mr. Durkan
asked the
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
the number of prisoners released without serving their full sentence in the past 12 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[20555/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 70 and 342 together.
There is an important distinction to be made between those offenders released having served their sentences with remission and those granted temporary release. All prisoners serving determinate sentences, other than those committed to custody for periods of one calendar month or less, can earn remission of part of their sentence for good behaviour. Full temporary release may be granted in cases where the offender is nearing the end of his or her sentence.
It is not possible to provide the precise information sought by the Deputy in the time available. However, I can inform the Deputy that there were a total of 355 prisoners on temporary release as of Friday, 16 October, 1998. The daily numbers on temporary release has decreased considerably over the past 12 months. There were, for example, 518 prisoners on temporary release on 16 October, 1997. I point out that the vast majority of these prisoners were granted renewable temporary release and, therefore, required to report back to the prison from which he or she was released on a weekly basis. It is also a condition of renewable temporary release that offenders report to their local Garda station on a daily basis.
The granting of temporary or early release, called parole in other jurisdictions, is a feature of prisons systems internationally and has been operated under statute in this country since 1960 by successive Ministers for Justice. Temporary release is an important vehicle for reintegrating an offender into the community in a planned way.
Prisoners are granted temporary release for a variety of reasons ranging from a few hours, for example, to attend a funeral, early temporary release which must be renewed weekly or on full temporary release in the last weeks of their sentences.
In addition, in a substantial number of cases the granting of temporary release may be affected by pressure on prison accommodation, in other words, prisoners may be released earlier than planned due to overcrowding. This has been the case for several years. However, it would be wrong to suggest that serious offenders are being released simply because of accommodation problems and without reference to other criteria.
Before granting temporary release careful consideration is given to a number of factors, including the nature and seriousness of the offence, previous record, behaviour in custody, length of sentence served and any compassionate grounds which merit special consideration. The overriding concern when decisions are being made in individual cases is the safety of the public.
In this regard it should be noted that persons serving sentences for serious crimes such as sex offences, importation or supply of drugs, armed robbery and other cases involving serious violence are not granted periods of temporary release except in very exceptional circumstances.
I remind the House that since taking office, 70 spaces have been provided in Limerick prison together with 152 at the new prison in Castlerea. My Department's prison building programme is on target to make available approximately 1,300 additional prison places by end 1999. These additional spaces will help eliminate the problem of overcrowding and thereby tackle the need to grant temporary release for that reason in a meaningful way.
