The governor of Mountjoy Prison has indicated a total of 26,071 visits to the prison in the year 2004. The vast majority of these visits were to prisoners and the remainder by persons such as solicitors, gardaí, Irish Prison Service headquarters staff, contractors, catering and delivery staff, addiction counsellors, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and the Samaritans. While the exact number of persons who visited the prison is not readily retrievable, it is estimated that, on average, three persons were present during each visit to a prisoner.
I can also inform the Deputy that prison records show a total of 2,695 separate committals to Mountjoy Prison in 2004. This figure includes committals from the courts and transfers from other prisons. There were 1,429 prisoner releases from Mountjoy Prison in the same time period.
In addition, figures indicate a total of 1,854 prisoner transfers out of Mountjoy Prison to other institutions during the year and 736 prisoner escorts to various hospitals for treatment in 2004.
Finally, there were 2,836 prisoner transfers from Mountjoy Prison to court and 3,119 prisoners escorted from court to Mountjoy Prison during the year. Legislation is being drafted to allow certain pretrial hearings to be conducted with the accused remaining in prison but participating in the proceedings by a video-link between the prison and court. This will reduce the number of prisoners who have to be transferred to and from the courts.
