Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 4 Feb 1992

Vol. 415 No. 3

Written Answers. - Prison Overcrowding.

Michael Bell

Ceist:

110 Mr. Bell asked the Minister for Justice if he will give details by place of custody, for the years (a) 1988, (b) 1989 and (c) 1990 of the daily average number of prisoners, both sentenced and on remand, affected by overcrowding which is defined as holding more people in a cell than it was originally designed for.

Minister for Justice (Mr. Burke)

The daily average number of prisoners in all the prisons and places of detention administered by my Department for the years 1988-90 is as follows:

Institution	1988	1989	1990
Mountjoy (M)	574	581	576
Mountjoy (F)	44	42	40
Cork	241	244	247
Limerick	164	165	160
Arbour Hill	140	141	141
Portlaoise	196	204	180
Shelton Abbey	56	56	54
Loughan House	106	99	69
Training Unit	98	97	96
Fort Mitchel	59	84	97
Wheatfield	—	73	255
St. Patrick's Institution	229	228	140
Shanganagh Castle	55	53	42
	1,962	2,067	2,097

At present the prison system is managing to accommodate some 2,200 prisoners at any one time.

Due to the daily fluctutation in the prison population it is not possible to give details of multiple cell occupancy for specific years. Currently, however, there are 231 cells originally designed for single occupancy which are being used to accommodate two prisoners and 20 cells designed to accommodate three prisoners which are now housing four prisoners.

These cells are located as follows:

	Single cells Double occupancy	Triple cells Quadruple Occupancy
Mountjoy	87	6
Cork	83	10
Limerick	40	4
Portlaoise	20	—
Arbour Hill	1	—
	231	20