Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 April 2015
132. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the extent to which overcrowding throughout the prison system has been alleviated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13806/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraI can advise the Deputy that 2013 saw the first significant decrease in prison numbers since 2007. There were 15,735 committals to prison in 2013 which was a decrease of 7.6% on the 2012 figure.
Huge improvements have been made in prison conditions in recent years. Overcrowding has been eliminated in Mountjoy Prison and priority has been given to reducing overcrowding in Cork, Limerick and the Dóchas Centre.
Furthermore, it is intended to reduce the capacity of our prisons to align with the Inspector of Prisons recommended bed capacity of 3,982 in so far as this is compatible with public safety and the integrity of the criminal justice system. An examination of the figures on 30 March 2015 when there were 3,748 prisoners in custody shows that this figure was 94% of the Inspector's recommended total of 3,982.
Alternatives to custody continue to be pursued and legislation has already been passed. This includes the Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) Act 2011 which requires the sentencing judge to consider the imposition of community service where a custodial sentence of 12 or less is being considered.
The Fines (Payment and Recovery) Act 2014 provides that the Court imposing a fine shall take into account a person's financial circumstances. It further provides, inter alia, that where a person fails to pay a fine by the due date the Court may make an attachment order to earnings as a means of recovering an unpaid fine. As a result of this legislation it is expected that we will see a reduction in the number of committals to prison on short sentences.
In conjunction with the Probation Service, the Irish Prison Service has continued the national roll out of the Community Return Programme, an incentivised scheme for earned temporary release under which carefully selected offenders can be granted structured temporary release in return for supervised community service. 1,216 prisoners have taken part in the Community Return Programme since October 2011, and 909 have completed the programme.
In addition to Community Return, the Community Support Schemes have been set up in Cork Prison, Mountjoy Campus, West Dublin Campus and Limerick Prisons, the aim of which is to reduce recidivism rates by arranging for additional support structures and provide for a more structured form of temporary release. At present there are 70 persons on temporary release with over 220 prisoners released onto this Scheme having successfully completed their sentences.
All this points to a reducing trend in prisoner numbers indicative of the progress being made by this Government to reduce the prisoner population and pursue alternatives to custody.
