Vol. 504 No. 2
61 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of prisoners, other than those released normally under good behaviour rules, released from prison in the past year without having served their full sentence; the reasons for these early releases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11491/99]
Statistics are maintained in a manual format and consequently, the time required to collate the information sought by the Deputy cannot be justified. However, this type of information should be readily available once the new prisoners record database which is part of a £6 million IT system currently being devised is introduced and becomes fully operational in the prison system.
I can inform the Deputy, however, that there were a total of 424 prisoners on temporary release on Thursday, 29 April 1999 representing 13 per cent of the total number of offenders serving sentence. The daily numbers of temporary release has in fact decreased considerably since I came to office. There were, for example, 552 prisoners on temporary release on Thursday, 1 May 1997 representing 18 per cent of the total number of prisoners serving sentences on that day. I should point out that the vast majority of these prisoners were granted renewable temporary release and are required to report back to the prison 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.
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, 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.
The overriding concern, however, when decisions are being made in individual cases, is the safety of the public. 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.
It should be noted that persons serving sentences for serious crimes such as importation and supply of drugs, sex offences, armed robbery and other cases involving serious violence are not granted periods of temporary release except in very exceptional circumstances.
