The object of this Bill is to provide for the temporary detention of prisoners in lock-ups provided in Garda stations or in other places being places designated for the purpose by the Minister for Justice.
There is accommodation for some 1,520 prisoners in the prisons situated in Dublin, Portlaoise, Limerick, Cork and Sligo. For several years past, the daily average number of prisoners in custody has been falling steadily. In 1946, the daily average was 683, last year it was only 396. There is, therefore, in the five prisons much more accommodation than is required and it is consequently proposed to close the prisons at Cork and Sligo.
The daily average number of prisoners in custody in Cork and Sligo prisons in 1955 was 15 and eight respectively. This was not exceptional, the daily averages have been very low for a number of years. Cork prison will be closed on 1st April and Sligo prison a little later. When these prisons are closed there will still be accommodation for over 1,200 prisoners.
It is proposed, when these establishments are closed, to have prisoners who are at present committed to Cork and Sligo prisons committed to either Limerick or Mountjoy prison. This will result, particularly in the case of Sligo, in long distances having to be travelled when prisoners are being brought to courts on remand, or following conviction or remand to prison, and it may no longer be feasible, in some cases, to convey all such prisoners to a prison or to court without spending a period somewhere en route.
Under the law as it stands, unconvicted and unsentenced prisoners can be temporarily detained in Garda Síochána stations when being produced in court, but a convicted prisoner must be taken straight to prison. When Sligo prison is closed it might be impossible, say, in a case being tried in Donegal, which was not disposed of until a late hour to bring a prisoner straight to Dublin. For this reason, there is provision in the Bill to authorise the detention of prisoners in lock-ups pending their removal to prison. It is also necessary to authorise detention not merely in Garda stations, but in such lock-ups elsewhere as may be designated by the Minister for Justice because requisite accommodation may not always be available in a Garda station. It is the intention in Sligo to convert two of the existing prison cottages into a suitable lock-up. This lock-up will be used mainly for the housing of remand prisoners and prisoners for trial who must be brought from Dublin the day before they are due to be produced at courts in centres situated in the Counties of Donegal, Sligo and Mayo.
I am sure the House will agree that the Bill is necessary and I commend it to them for favourable consideration.