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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 10 Mar 1999

Vol. 502 No. 1

Written Answers. - Prison Costs.

Jack Wall

Question:

64 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the cost of maintaining an inmate per week in each of the prisons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7221/99]

The average weekly cost of keeping an offender in custody is £987. A breakdown between institutions is not yet available. This figure is calculated by averaging out the current running costs of the prisons and places of detention against the average number of offenders over a certain period, in this case 1998. These running costs include certain items which are fixed no matter what the level of prisoners in custody, that is mainly officers' wages but also such items as lighting and heating. It cannot be assumed that each increase by one in the prison population will result in increased expenditure of £987 per week. Taking the fixed costs into account, the additional expenditure would be more in the region of £340. Neither, due to economies of scale, would there be a direct pro rata relationship with changes in the number of prisoners in other areas of expenditure such as overtime, education, work and training. The only area which would see such a relationship is the prisoners' gratuities subhead, expenditure on which is linked directly to the number of sentenced prisoners in custody.

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