Billy Timmins
Question:15 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of personnel who have escaped from custody since July 1997 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31967/01]
Written Answers. - Prisoner Escapes.
The figures requested by the Deputy are as follows:
|
Year |
Number of Escapes from Prison Custody |
|
1997 |
2 |
|
1998 |
7 |
|
1999 |
14 |
|
2000 |
8 |
|
2001 (to date) |
12 |
There has been one escape from within a closed prison institution during this period. The woman in question was subsequently recaptured by the gardaí and returned to Mountjoy Prison. In all of the other cases, prisoners escaped from the custody of prison officers while outside the confines of a closed institution, for example during the course of an escort to court or hospital. The above figures do not include escapes of prisoners from Garda custody, abscondings from open centres or persons failing to return from temporary release.
Prisoners have succeeded in escaping by using a variety of means including, producing syringes in the course of an escort and demanding that their handcuffs be removed, breaking through windows in the holding cells of courthouses, climbing out of hospital windows, and in one recent incident, armed intervention by associates. It should be noted that the vast majority of these escapees have since been recaptured and returned to prison to complete their sentences. A few have returned voluntarily.
There will always be an element of risk associated with transporting prisoners outside the secure confines of a closed prison, given that the dignity of the prisoner is to be respected. It is, however, estimated that less than one in every thousand escorts result in incidents which lead to an escape bid by a prisoner. The vast majority of escorts effected by prison officers are completed without incident. There have, of course, been many occasions, usually unreported, where prison staff, by their vigilance and professionalism have succeeded in preventing the escape of prisoners, often when faced with considerable threat to their own safety.