Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 December 2007
899 Deputy Lucinda Creighton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the amount of prisoners in the prison system here who have been caught in the possession of mobile phones in the past five years; the number of prosecutions this resulted in; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34081/07]
View answerThe confiscation of mobile phones has until recent times been recorded by our prisons under the generic description of "prohibited articles". An accurate breakdown of statistics as requested by the Deputy is not therefore available without the manual examination of records going back over a considerable time period.
Section 36 of the Prisons Act 2007, which was brought into operation from 1 May, 2007 makes it an offence for prisoners to have unauthorised possession of or use mobile telecommunications devices. Under the Act it is also an offence to supply such a device to a prisoner. The penalty for such an offence, on summary conviction, is a fine not exceeding €5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both, and on conviction on indictment, a fine not exceeding €10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or both.
It is Irish Prison Service policy to report seizures of mobile phones to the Garda authorities. It is important to note that prosecutions will not arise in respect of all instances of mobile phone seizure, owing to the number of mobile phones found in double cells, toilet areas or in the prison yards. It would be impossible to determine in such instances what prisoner was the owner or intended recipient of such devices.
Statistics in relation to the number of mobile phones seized during the course of 2007 to date are recorded in the table.
|
Prison |
Number of Mobile Phones Seized |
|
Arbour Hill |
5 |
|
Training Unit |
49 |
|
Shelton Abbey |
25 |
|
Portlaoise |
60 |
|
Castlerea |
94 |
|
Midlands |
143 |
|
Cloverhill |
120 |
|
Limerick |
241 |
|
Mountjoy |
687 |
|
Dóchas |
67 |
|
St. Patrick’s Institution |
132 |
|
Wheatfield |
188 |
|
Loughan House |
85 |
|
PSEC |
6 |
|
Cork |
108 |
|
Total |
2,010 |
There are thirty proceedings commenced recorded on PULSE relating to possession of a telecommunications device without the permission of the Governor of a prison, with twelve convictions recorded.
900 Deputy Lucinda Creighton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of prisoners in the prison system here who have been caught in the possession of drugs in the past five years; the number of prosecutions this resulted in; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34082/07]
View answerThe confiscation of drugs (or suspected drugs) is recorded by our prisons under the generic description of "prohibited articles/substances". An accurate breakdown of statistics as requested by the Deputy is not therefore available without the manual examination of records going back over a considerable time period. The Gardaí are contacted once suspected drug seizures are made. Issues of investigation and prosecution fall within the remit of the Garda authorities.
The table shows the number of proceedings commenced for possession or sale / supply of drugs offences for years 2002 to 2007 where the location of the offence has been recorded as a prison.
|
Year |
Number of Proceedings Commenced |
|
2002 |
31 |
|
2003 |
44 |
|
2004 |
44 |
|
2005 |
97 |
|
2006 |
67 |
|
2007 |
45* |
*Please note that these figures are provisional and may be liable to change.
It would necessitate a disproportionate expenditure of Garda time and resources to identify the number of persons who were prosecuted for these offences while prisoners in the prison system, as this information could only be ascertained from a manual trawl of station records.
