Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 December 2020
362. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice the number of offences committed by prisoners while on temporary or short-term release in the past five years to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42817/20]
View answerThe Irish Prison Service work closely with An Garda Síochána and the Probation Service in respect of the monitoring, supervision and compliance of those on temporary release.
As the Deputy may be aware, any prisoner who breaches his or her conditions, including committing a criminal offence, may be arrested and returned to prison immediately by the Gardaí or may be refused another period of reviewable temporary release. If an individual re-offends on temporary release, the matter of their prosecution is a matter for An Garda Síochána and the Director of Public Prosecutions to consider.
I am advised by my officials in the Irish Prison Service that the information requested by the Deputy would take a disproportionate amount of time and resources to gather. It is not currently readily accessible and in a manner which can be easily collated at this time. However, I have undertaken to discuss this matter further with my officials to ascertain what type of information may be available and will revert to the Deputy when I have done so.
The Deputy may wish to note that the Central Statistics Office (CSO) use data from the Irish Prison Service and An Garda Síochána to develop comprehensive prison re-offending indicators and in order to be of some assistance to the Deputy, the following statistics on recidivism in respect of offences committed on release from custody may be helpful.
The three-year re-offending indicator counts prisoners who re-offended within three years of release from custody, and who secured a court conviction within a further two years.
The latest reoffending statistics produced by the CSO demonstrate that prison re-offending rate has been in decline from 2011 to 2017.
Looking at the three year re-offending rate, 55.2% of prisoners released in 2014 re-offended within three years of release, an 8.6% decrease on re-offending levels of 63.8% for prisoners released in 2011.
Further information and statistical information is available on the website of the Central Statistics Office at www.cso.ie .
