I propose to take Questions Nos. 293 and 294 together.
De-escalation techniques play a significant part in the control and restraint training for prison staff and are deployed on a daily basis throughout the prison estate.
It is impossible to quantify the number of incidents the Irish Prison Service manage to de-escalate. Many incidents are resolved at different levels, where de-escalation techniques are used. These vary from officers on the landings on a personal level, to planned incidents involving control & restraint teams.
I wish to advise the Deputy that the number of recorded incidents where a Control and Restraint team was deployed in 2016 is set out in the following table.
As part of a control & restraint team a staff member, with a video recording camera, records footage of the event. The majority of the incidents in which a control & restraint teams was deployed did not require the physical removal of the prisoner.
Prison
|
C & R Recorded incidents
|
Arbour Hill
|
0
|
Castlerea
|
5
|
Cloverhill
|
102
|
Cork
|
5
|
Dochas
|
0
|
Limerick
|
0
|
Midlands
|
6
|
Mountjoy
|
273
|
Portlaoise
|
373
|
Training Unit
|
0
|
Wheatfield
|
62
|