Finian McGrath
Question:292 Mr. F. McGrath asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the amount of taxpayers money spent on keeping a young offender over the age of 16 in prison over the past three years. [17124/03]
Written Answers. - Juvenile Offenders.
The majority of young offenders aged 16 and 17 years of age committed to the prison system over the past three years have been held in St. Patrick's Institution, Fort Mitchel, Cloverhill Remand Prison, Wheatfield Prison, as well as in Shanganagh Castle, which closed in December 2002. Persons aged 17 years can also be committed to the other committal prisons.
As these institutions also accommodate offenders over 18 years of age, the information sought by the Deputy is not readily available and could only be obtained by the expenditure of a disproportionate amount of staff time and resources. However, the annual cost of keeping a young offender in the prison institutions which catered solely for the 16 to 21 year old age category for 2000 and 2001 is as follows:
|
Institution |
2000 |
2001 |
|
€ |
€ |
|
|
St. Patrick's Institution |
67,296 |
69,400 |
|
Shanganagh Castle |
103,357 |
127,000 |
Details on the cost of keeping a young offender in those institutions for the year 2002 are not available at present.