Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 222: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the average cost of maintaining a prisoner in custody in 2005; the average cost of holding a prisoner in custody in Portlaoise Prison in 2005; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30527/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The average cost of keeping a prisoner in custody in 2005 was €90,900. The cost of keeping a prisoner in custody in Portlaoise Prison in 2005 was €240,700.

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 costs include certain items which are fixed no matter what the number of offenders in custody, e.g. utilities, staff salaries, etc. It also reallocates the cost of central services, e.g. H.Q., Prison Service Training Centre, I.T., etc. to each prison institution.

The relatively high costs of keeping a prisoner in Portlaoise Prison arises primarily because of the unique nature of the prisoners held there and the consequent security considerations which require a higher staff to prisoner ratio.