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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 5 Jul 2001

Vol. 540 No. 3

Written Answers. - Departmental Surveys.

Richard Bruton

Ceist:

277 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the estimated cost of maintaining a prisoner for a full year in each of the penal institutions operated by his Department; and the ratio of staff to prisoner in each institution. [20509/01]

The average cost of keeping an offender for the year 2000, the most recent year for which figures are available, was £59,570. The cost broken down by institution was as follows:

Prison

Cost of Keeping anOffender, 2000

Arbour Hill

£50,200

Castlerea

£49,800

Cork

£50,100

Curragh

£45,600

Fort Mitchel

£62,200

Limerick

£53,600

Loughan House

£42,200

Mountjoy

£59,200

Portlaoise

£124,300*

Shanganagh Castle

£81,400

Shelton Abbey

£53,300

St. Patrick's

£53,000

Training Unit

£48,600

Wheatfield

£48,300

*Portlaoise holds subversive prisoners with all of the attendant additional costs. Cloverhill and Midlands Prisons were not fully operational during 2000 and have been excluded from the table. The average cost of keeping an offender is calculated by averaging out the current running costs of the prisons and places of detention against the average number of offenders in those institutions. These items include certain items which are fixed no matter what the number of offenders in custody, for example, staffing number, light and heat.
The cost outturn for 2000 is currently subject to the annual audit of Vote 21 – Prisons – by the Comptroller and Auditor General. When looking at the cost of keeping an offender it should be borne in mind that this figure is for keeping a person in custody, with all of the entailed costs, such as medical, educational and recreational, for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks of the year. It is, therefore, not really comparable with other types of institutions. The ratio of staff to offender by institution on 3 July 2001 was as follows:

Prison

Number ofstaff

Number ofprisoners

Staff:Prisonerratio

Arbour Hill

121

137

0.88:1

Castlerea

153

193

0.79:1

Cork

236

266

0.89:1

Cloverhill

303

406

0.75:1

Curragh

73

100

0.73:1

Fort Mitchel

96

89

1.07:1

Limerick

206

197

1.04:1

LoughanHouse

49

78

0.63:1

Midlands

307

283

1.08:1

Mountjoy

622

580

1.07:1

Portlaoise

340

138

2.46:1

ShanganaghCastle

45

38

1.18:1

Shelton Abbey

45

29

1.55:1

St. Patrick's

185

225

0.82:1

Training Unit

79

88

0.89:1

Wheatfield

288

368

0.78:1

Totals

3,148

3,095

1.02:1

The high staff to prisoner ratio in Portlaoise is as result of the special security arrangements in place for subversive prisoners.
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