Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 November 2022
878. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Justice if her attention has been drawn to reports (details supplied) that the highest number of prisoners was recently seen in Dóchas prison; her views on whether having 164 prisoners, when the maximum should be between 100 and 110, puts both prisoners and officers at risk; the urgent actions that her Department will take to resolve this; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55284/22]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, the Prison Service must accept all prisoners committed by the Courts and does not have the option of refusing to take prisoners into custody. The numbers in prison is, of course, subject to peaks and troughs. Numbers are particularly high when the Courts are at their busiest and following the return to a more normal level of Court activity, committal numbers have increased across the prison system. The Deputy may wish to know that there were 5,219 committals to prison for the period January to September 2022 which is a 13% increase on the same period in 2021.
I am informed by my officials in the Irish Prison Service that the total number of prisoners in custody in the Dóchas Centre on 2 November 2022 was 163 compared with a bed capacity of 146. This represents an occupancy level of 112%. Of the 163, 44 are on remand and 119 are sentenced prisoners.
While increases in prisoner population result in challenges within certain committal prisons, the Irish Prison Service takes all possible steps to alleviate the situation through a combination of inter-prison transfers and other contingency measures.
Officials in the Irish Prison Service work closely with the Governors of affected prisons to alleviate capacity issues, by identifying prisoners who may be suitable for transfer to other prisons or prisoners who may be suitable for structured early release.
The Deputy will also be aware that construction is currently underway in Limerick Prison and this will provide 22 additional female cell spaces. The new accommodation is expected to become operational in the first quarter of 2023 assuming there is no further impact on construction activity or supply chain issues due to the pandemic.
Separately, the Programme for Government 2020 contains a broad range of policies and proposals that represent a coherent approach to enhancing and sustaining a more just and safe society, with a specific commitment to review policy options for prison and penal reform. In respect of delivering on this commitment, I recently published the Review of Policy Options for Prison and Penal Reform 2022-2024.
The review seeks to find the balance between ensuring that people who commit serious crimes receive a punishment and a period of incarceration proportionate to that crime, while at the same time acknowledging that sometimes community based sanctions are more appropriate in diverting offenders away from future criminal activity.
The review also includes as a priority action to develop and expand the range of community based sanctions, including alternatives to imprisonment, and commits as part of this to build on the joint Prison Service / Probation Service strategy “An Effective Response to Women who Offend” and incorporate the Probation Service 2021 “Best Practice Approach” to scope the development and explore the feasibility of a number of actions to work for positive outcomes for women who offend.
Sentencing is a matter solely within the discretion of the trial judge, having regard to the circumstances of the case and of the accused and subject to any limits as may be prescribed by law for a particular offence. While these proposals do not change this, they are intended to strengthen the options available to judges when they are considering cases, to facilitate the effective and efficient use of community sanctions by the courts, and to ensure that the courts have a wide range of appropriate options for dealing with people who have committed minor offences.
In addition, as part of delivering the Penal Policy action plan, the need to ensure the continued availability of modern prison facilities with adequate capacity will continue to be central to the work of the Irish Prison Service and will be core to the development of the new Irish Prison Service Capital Strategy 2023.
