Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 196: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of prisoners on the various forms of early day or special release on a monthly basis in each of the past 12 months to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28787/10]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 209: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the occupancy rate of all prison cells in each of the past 12 months to date in 2010; the number of prisoners on the various forms of early release over the same period in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28822/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 196 and 209 together.

The Criminal Justice Act 1960, as amended by the Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Act 2003 provides that the Minister may approve the temporary release of a sentenced prisoner. This discretionary instrument assists in gradually preparing suitable offenders for release, in administering short sentences, in addressing humanitarian issues and can be an incentive to well-behaved prisoners. It should be noted that a prisoner on temporary release is still subject to his or her sentence and may be returned to prison without any court intervention.

Temporary release arrangements are an important vehicle for re-integrating an offender into the community in a planned way. The generally accepted view is that the risk to the community is reduced by planned re-integration of offenders compared with their return to the community on the completion of their full sentence. Each case is examined on its own merits and the safety of the public is paramount when decisions are made. In addition, all releases are subject to conditions, which in the vast majority of cases include a requirement to report on a regular basis to the offender's Garda Station. Of course, any offender who breaches his or her conditions may be arrested and returned to prison immediately by the Gardaí.

As the Deputy is aware periods of temporary release granted can vary greatly from a few hours following a family bereavement to, for example, a requirement to report to the prison every 12 months in the case of a life sentence prisoner who has been released in the community a considerable time ago. I wish to inform the Deputy that on 24th June, 2010 there were 933 prisoners on temporary release. This represents 17.8% of the total number of prisoners in the system on that day. To put this figure in context let me place on the record of the House the equivalent percentage of prisoners on temporary release for the years 1994 to 1997. The percentages are as follows: 1994 - 22.2%; 1995 - 20.2%; 1996 - 17.9% and 1997 - 19.2%.

It is not possible to provide exact figures to the Deputy for the occupancy rate of all prison cells for the period requested as this would require a disproportionate and inordinate amount of staff time and effort and could not be justified in current circumstances where there are other significant demands on resources. However I can inform the Deputy that all prisons have been consistently operating at their full bed capacity/occupancy rate or slightly in excess of it over the last 12 months.

The figures provide the bed capacity and persons in custody per prison/institution on 24th June 2010.