Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

As I advised the Deputy in my answer to a parliamentary question on 22 November, we currently have two open centres in the prison estate and on 21 November 2011 Loughan House had 110 prisoners, filling approximately 70% of the bed capacity of 160, while Shelton Abbey had 97 prisoners, filling nearly 90% of the bed capacity of 110. These figures do not include prisoners on temporary release that day; for example, six prisoners in Shelton Abbey were on weekend temporary release and were due back in custody later that day and 23 prisoners were on temporary release from Loughan House.

The average occupancy rates for Shelton Abbey for 2010 was 94% so it cannot be described as being under-utilised. The occupancy rates for Loughan House would normally be in the region of 80%, for example, yesterday it was 83%. Neither centre is a committal centre and, as open centres, they are only suitable for a limited category of prisoners, that is, low risk offenders serving short sentences or offenders nearing the end of longer sentences. There is limited use for each of these prisons. Many prisoners prefer to be in prisons close to their families and will simply abscond from open centres. Open centres are not appropriate to them.

While it is my policy to encourage the maximum use of open centres as appropriate, I recognise that they are not suitable for every prisoner and that their bed capacity only represents 6% of the total prison capacity. As such, further maximising their use does not have the potential to have any significant effect on the pressures in the rest of the prison system. However, open centres have a useful role to play and we need to make the most effective use of them.

It is simply not true to say that prison overcrowding is due to the imprisonment of large numbers of persons for minor offences who could be placed in open centres. An analysis of prisoner population and trends for the years 2005 to 2010 shows that the proportion of prisoners in custody on any one day serving sentences of less than 12 months has actually gone down over that period, from approximately 20% to 15%, while there has been a significant increase in the numbers serving sentences of three years or more. We anticipate that the new arrangements made in respect of community service orders will further reduce the numbers of prisoners serving short-term sentences of less than 12 months.

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