Vol. 456 No. 3
119 Ms O'Donnell asked the Minister for Justice the number of the 2,227 prisoners committed to St. Patrick's Institution in 1993 who were transferred to a different place of detention; the number of those that remained who were given full temporary release; and the average length of time served. [13824/95]
Of the 2,227 committals to St. Patrick's Institution in 1993, provisional figures indicate that 1,152 were committals on conviction, i.e. persons who had been sentenced. The remainder were committed on remand or for trial. Of this number, 872 were subsequently transferred to other institutions and 56 were given full temporary release, after serving a portion of their sentence, in 1993 from St. Patrick's Institution. Seventy-nine were still in custody on 31 December 1993. Information regarding the final disposition of these 79 prisoners in 1994 is not yet available. The balance of the 1,152, committed on conviction, i.e. 145, were released on foot of a variety of dispositions, e.g. bailed by court pending appeal, on expiry of sentence.
The average length of time served is not readily available and would involve the examination of over a thousand individual prisoner records and the subsequent collation of the data obtained. Such use of staff time could not be justified at present. However, the average sentence of those committed on conviction to St. Patrick's Institution is approximately 12 months.
