Bernard J. Durkan
Question:372 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of custodial places available for junior offenders; the categories catered for; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15503/99]
Written Answers. - Juvenile Offenders.
For the purposes of this question, junior offenders are taken to be those under the age of 18 years. It is not possible to accurately quantify the number of custodial places available for juvenile offenders at present. While every effort is made to segregate 16 and 17 year old offenders from the general prison population in each institution at all times, this is not always possible due to pressures of overcrowding and the high turnover of inmates. Those held in the more traditional adult prisons are accommo dated with other young offenders or with carefully selected older prisoners.
Juvenile offenders are categorised in the same way as the rest of the prison population e.g. remand prisoners, sentenced prisoners, sex offenders etc.
Male offenders aged 16 and 17, and up to the age of 21, may be committed on remand or to serve a period of detention at St. Patrick's Institution. Male offenders aged 17 years and over may be committed on remand or sentenced to imprisonment to the five adult committal prisons, Mountjoy, Cork, Limerick, Portlaoise and Castlerea.
Sentenced male offenders aged 16 and 17 may be transferred from any of the five adult committal prisons and from St. Patrick's Institution to Wheatfield Place of Detention, Fort Mitchel and Shanganagh Castle to serve their sentences.
St. Patrick's Institution is reserved exclusively for male offenders aged 16 to 21 years and has a bed capacity of 172. Shanganagh Castle is an open centre also reserved for male offenders aged 16 to 21 years and has a capacity of 60.
Female offenders aged 17 years, and over, may be committed on remand or sentenced to imprisonment to Mountjoy and Limerick Women's Prisons. However, very few female offenders aged 17 years are committed to penal institutions each year.
Offenders under the age of 15 years cannot be committed to a prison under any circumstances. Fifteen year old male offenders and 15 and 16 year old female offenders can be committed to prison only in exceptional circumstances. This can occur only in cases where the court certifies under the provisions of sections 97 and 102 of the Children Act, 1908, that the young person is so unruly or depraved of character that he or she cannot be detained in a place of detention provided under Part 5 of the Act.
Persons under 18 years of age may be also detained in special schools provided by the Department of Education and Science.
The legal provisions for the committal of young offenders under the age of 18 years will change on enactment of the Children Bill, 1996 which proposes that where a court imposes a period of detention on a child, it shall, (a) where the child is under 16 years of age, order the child to be detained in a children's detention school (operated by the Department of Education and Science); (b) where the child is 16 or 17 years of age, order the child to be detained in a place of detention provided by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
Under the provisions of the Bill, separate, dedicated secure detention centres will be required for the accommodation of male and female juvenile, 16 and 17 years, offenders.