Prisoner Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 May 2015

Wednesday, 6 May 2015

Questions (243)

Clare Daly

Question:

243. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the average number of prisoners in custody for each month from May 2013 to December 2013; if she will provide, in tabular form, the average number of prisoners per month, broken down by prison; the capacity of each prison; and the Inspector of Prisons' recommended capacity for each prison for each of these months. [17256/15]

Written answers

Minister for Justice and Equality

I can inform the Deputy a full breakdown to include monthly average number of prisoners in custody per institution, bed capacity and Inspector of Prison's bed capacity is set out in the following table.

	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	Bed Capacity	Bed Capacity per Inspector of Prisons
Institution
Mountjoy  (Male)	545	543	550	525	515	518	526	539	575	540
Mountjoy (Female)	129	133	132	130	125	126	120	118	105	105
Training Unit	111	106	103	106	104	99	99	89	106	96
St. Patrick's	160	136	100	84	86	89	88	82	115	191
Cloverhill	416	387	382	377	412	418	409	387	431	414
Wheatfield	709	679	610	589	540	540	544	498	540	642
Midlands	722	776	831	820	817	830	844	852	870	777
Portlaoise	259	262	266	261	259	257	253	257	291	291
Cork	225	223	238	211	220	229	230	231	210	173
Limerick (Male)	223	220	227	224	224	227	223	216	220	185
Limerick (Female)	25	29	30	31	29	32	30	33	28	24
Castlerea	350	355	353	345	352	355	353	354	340	300
Arbour Hill	143	141	138	140	140	139	141	141	142	131
Loughan House	124	122	122	130	127	129	127	115	140	140
Shelton Abbey	108	107	105	106	106	104	101	89	115	115
Totals	4,249	4,219	4,187	4,079	4,056	4,092	4,088	4,001	4,228	4,124

As outlined in the Irish Prison Service Three Year Strategic Plan 2012 - 2015, it is intended to align the bed capacity of our prisons with the guidelines laid down by the Inspector of Prisons, in so far as this is compatible with public safety and the integrity of the criminal justice system. This has been completed for 9 out of the 14 prisons in the State. The number in custody on 5th May (3,737) represented 94% of the Inspector of Prisons recommended total of 3,982.

The Deputy will be aware that the average number of prisoners in custody in Ireland rose from 3,321 during 2007 to 4,318 during 2012, an increase of over 30%. Likewise the total number of committals to prison also rose sharply during the same period, from 11,934 in 2007 to 17,026 in 2012 – an increase of over 43%.

2013 saw the first significant decrease in prison numbers since 2007. There were 15,735 committals to prison in 2013 which was a decrease of 7.6% on the 2012 figure. The overall daily average number of prisoners in custody has also dropped in recent years. The average number in custody for 2014 was 3,916 a reduction of 10.8% on the 2011 average of 4,390.

The Deputy may wish to note that the number in custody reached a peak of 4,621 on 23rd February 2011. Today there are 884 less prisoners in custody which represents a decrease of 18%.