Patrick Costello
Question:310. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Justice the number of reports that have been submitted to her office by the current Inspector of Prisons; and the number that have been published. [4090/22]
View answerThursday, 27 January 2022
Questions (310)
Written answers
As the Deputy will be aware the Office of the Inspector of Prisons is a statutory body, independent in how it carries out its work, set up under the Prisons Act 2007. The Inspector's key role is to carry out regular inspections of prisons and the Inspector plays a vital role in ensuring effective independent oversight of our prison system.
The current Inspector of Prisons, Ms. Patricia Gilheaney, was appointed in May 2018.
Please see below a breakdown of the number and types of reports submitted to my office, and the numbers published to date from the years 2018 to 2022.
|
Type of Reports |
Submitted to the Minister |
Published Reports |
|
Death in Custody Reports |
49 |
43 |
|
Thematic Functional Reports* |
12 |
8 |
|
Annual Reports |
3 |
3 |
|
Strategic Plan |
1 |
1 |
|
Governance Documents |
3 |
3 |
|
Other Investigation Reports** |
1 |
1 |
|
Other reports *** |
1 |
1 |
|
Total |
71 |
61 |
*These include 12 COVID- 19 Thematic Inspection reports and a three day monitoring report of Mountjoy Women’s Prison (Dóchas Centre).
**This is a Report by Inspector of Prisons into allegations of wrongdoing in the Irish Prison Service.
*** This is a report on a COVID 19 Staff Survey carried out by the office of the Inspector of Prisons between 30 April and 16 May 2021. The survey sought to gather prison staff experiences of working in prisons during the pandemic.
All such published reports are available on the website of the Office of the Inspector of Prisons.
Furthermore, the Inspector has indicated that she is currently finalising the investigation report carried out under Section 31(2) of the Prisons Act 2007 in relation to matters concerning the Dochas Centre and I expect to receive the final report shortly.