Trevor Sargent
Ceist:254 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Justice when the planned drug treatment unit adjacent to Mountjoy Prison will be opened; and the plans, if any, she has for improving conditions of detention there. [3916/96]
Vol. 461 No. 7
254 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Justice when the planned drug treatment unit adjacent to Mountjoy Prison will be opened; and the plans, if any, she has for improving conditions of detention there. [3916/96]
255 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Justice the number of strip searches that have been conducted in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, since the introduction of the measure last year; and the evaluation, if any, that has been carried out on the effectiveness of this measure in stopping the entry of drugs into prisons. [3917/96]
256 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Justice the plans, if any, she has to make clean needles available to serious heroin addicts in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, as well as condoms to prisoners in general, to help reduce the risk of HIV/AIDS infection there. [3918/96]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 254, 255 and 256 together.
The drug treatment facility is scheduled to commence operations in April next at the Mountjoy Health Care Unit following the completion of extensive renovations necessitated by the fire at the unit last December. Regarding conditions generally at the prison, there is a comprehensive, ongoing programme of renovations under way. Searches are a standard procedure in respect of all prisoners entering and leaving the prisons.