Jim Higgins
Question:276 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the total num ber of persons committed to prison in each of the years 1997, 1998 and 1999. [14083/00]
Written Answers. - Prison Committals.
The information requested by the Deputy is outlined in the table below :
|
Year |
Number of Committals |
|
1997 |
11,429 |
|
1998 |
11,307 |
|
1999 |
10,699 |
The absolute number of committals to prison annually is a poor guide to prison population figures which are heavily influenced by sentence lengths, which are generally increasing, and grants of temporary release, which are decreasing from the very high levels of the mid-1990's.
The prisoner population on Thursday, 18 May, 2000 was 3,187 serving sentences with 2,964 in custody – a record for numbers in custody in Ireland in the modern era.