Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 3 Oct 1995

Vol. 456 No. 3

Written Answers. - Prison Places.

Bertie Ahern

Ceist:

52 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Minister for Justice her views on whether there is a major crisis in our criminal justice system in view of the insufficient prison places and the revolving-door release system that contributes to thousands of crimes being committed by criminals while on bail. [13979/95]

Minister for Justice (Mrs. Owen)

Regarding prison places, my Department is currently examining the question of optimising the use of existing accommodation and of providing additional prison places.

Decisions to grant temporary release from prison have for many years now been influenced by pressure on accommodation. The overriding concern, however, when decisions are being made in individual cases is the safety of the public. Early releases are largely granted — and have been granted by successive Ministers — to offenders serving relatively short sentences, or who are near the end of longer sentences.

In many cases offenders are granted temporary release for positive humanitarian and resocialisation reasons. These include occasions such as illness of near relatives, bereavements, employment interviews, or to help with the resocialisation programmes in the case of longer-term offenders. The case for granting such releases — all of which are subject to conditions — would stand, even if there were a surplus of prison accommodation available.

I would refer the Deputy to the documentThe Management of Offenders — A Five Year Plan which was published last year. Chapter 5 of the plan contains a review of the current temporary release arrangements together with a number of specific proposals for the future.