Prison Service

Wednesday, 19 April 2023

Questions (89, 90, 91, 92)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

89. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice the total number of committals to prison in 2022, by gender; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18562/23]

View answer

Catherine Murphy

Question:

90. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice the number of remand committals to prison in 2022, by gender; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18563/23]

View answer

Catherine Murphy

Question:

91. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice the average number of people in prison custody in 2022, by gender; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18564/23]

View answer

92. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice the total number of people who were committed to prison in 2022 as the result of the non-payment of a court-ordered fine, by gender; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18565/23]

View answer

Written answers

Minister for Justice

I propose to take Questions Nos. 89 to 92, inclusive, together.

As the Deputy will appreciate, judges are independent in the matter of sentencing, as in other matters concerning the exercise of judicial functions, subject only to the Constitution and the law. As a general rule, the court is required to impose a sentence which is proportionate not only to the crime but to the individual offender. In doing so, the Court identifies where on the sentencing range the particular case should lie and then applies any mitigating factors which may be present.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Prison Service must accept all prisoners committed by the Courts and as such the Prison Service has no control over the numbers committed to custody at any given time, and the prison system is, of course, subject to peaks and troughs.

I can advise that there were 7,043 committals to custody in 2022. This is a 14.8% (910) increase on the number of committals in 2021. Females accounted for 11.5% (807) of all committals, and males for 88.5% (6,236) of all committals.

The daily average number of people in custody in 2022, was 4,122. This is an 8.6% (328) increase in the daily average number of persons in custody since 2021.

I can further advise that the number of remand committals accounted for 38% of all committals in 2022.

The additional information requested by the Deputy is provided in the tables below.

Total Number of Remand Committals to Prison in 2022, by Gender

Gender	Number of Committals
Female	314
Male	2,383
Total	2,697

Daily Average Number of People in Custody in 2022, by Gender

Gender	Average
Female	173
Male	3,949
Overall Average	4,122

Committals to Prison in 2022 as a result of the non-payment of fines, by Gender

Gender	Number of committals
Female	46
Male	159
Total	205

Question No. 90 answered with Question No. 89.

Question No. 91 answered with Question No. 89.

Question No. 92 answered with Question No. 89.