Written Answers. - Prison Accommodation.
Liz McManus
Ceist:
102
Ms McManus
asked the
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
the number of prisoners Mountjoy Prison is designed to accommodate; the highest number held on any night in 1997; the average number held in 1997; the steps, if any, he is taking to deal with the overcrowding problem; when the Prison Service Bill will be introduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[6699/98]
Mountjoy male prison has a capacity of 507 places at present. This does not include the 40 spaces in the reception area. The highest number in custody on any one night during 1997 was 700 and the average was 653. Mountjoy female prison has a capacity of 73 places at present but not all of these are in use. The highest number in custody there on any one night during 1997 was 67 and the average was 51. These peaks in both the male and female sections of Mountjoy were on different nights during December and both have been exceeded since then. With regard to the Prison Service Bill a general scheme is being considered in my Department in light of the report of the expert group. The date of publication of the Bill will be announced in due course and in the usual way.
I have consistently acknowledged the need to address the problem of overcrowding in our prison system in general and in particular in Mountjoy Prison. I have put in place a substantial programme of prison refurbishment and construction which is under way at present. Construction of the new remand prison at Wheatfield is progressing well. This facility will provide an additional 400 spaces and will act as a centre for the classification and assessment of most of the State's remand prisoners. Building of the new women's prison at Mountjoy, which will accommodate 80 offenders, is also progressing well and is on target for completion in October or November of this year. Construction of ‘D' Block of Limerick has been completed, 60 new places are available there and are now in the process of being occupied. The construction of 152 places at the Castlerea main prison has just been finished and these will come into operation in the next couple of months. The planning for the provision of a new prison at Portlaoise is well under way. Competitive tenders for the provision of this new 400 prisoner facility, by means of a private sector design, build and finance package, have been received and are currently being examined. It is expected that construction will be completed within 15 months from the date of commencement, that is, by summer-autumn 1999.
In addition to providing some 1,090 additional prison spaces by mid to late 1999 I am fully committed to the development of community sanctions and measures as alternatives to custody and as a means of combating crime. My Department's Probation and Welfare Service has a significant role to play in this regard. A number of alternatives to custody are already in place. In this regard approximately 1,042 offenders are placed on probation orders each year. Another alternative to custody which has proven successful is community service with approximately 1,600 offenders being required by the courts to perform community service each year.
A more recent development in the area of alternatives to imprisonment is intensive probation supervision. This is a special community based programme for serious or persistent offenders requiring a more intensive form of supervision. Participants may be referred to this scheme by courts as an alternative to a substantial sentence — two years or more. Furthermore, offenders in custody for similar sentences may be released early from custody towards the end of their sentence under intensive supervision.
It is my Department's policy to develop probation as a viable alternative to imprisonment. To this end, funding is provided to over 40 hostels, day centres and workshops.
I again stress my commitment to community sanctions and measures as viable alternatives to custody. I recently established a group to examine the Probation and Welfare Service, its role, needs and organisational structure, and to make recommendations on how the service should develop into the next millennium. I also secured funding for a much needed new IT system for the service which will be developed in 1998. I also secured additional money for three new probation centres for 1998. In total, I increased funding to the Probation and Welfare Service in 1998 by 27 per cent over last year's allocation.
The measures I have outlined will, in time, alleviate the problem of overcrowding in Mountjoy Prison and the other prisons and places of detention.
