Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 542: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the cost of imprisonment for an average prisoner each year for each of the past four years in each of Ireland's prisons; the way this compares with the cost of imprisonment in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and other EU countries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23950/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The average cost for keeping an offender in each of the last four years are set out in the table.

The average cost of keeping an offender in custody 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. Headquarters, Prison Service Training Centre, I.T., etc. to each prison institution.

Significant factors in determining prison costs include the size and age of institutions and the regime applied to prisoners. There is no information readily available to me on the precise methodology and procedures in the preparation of figures from other jurisdictions.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 543: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of prison places in each prison in each of the past ten years for each of the categories (details supplied); his plan to further increase the number of places; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23951/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Information as requested by the Deputy is illustrated in the table. These Statistics reflect the operational capacity for each prison as at 15 October, 2007 and the same date in previous years.

Since 1998, the capacity of the prison system has increased by approximately 700 spaces, an increase of 26%. Details on the categories of prisoners accommodated in the various institutions are set out below.

Mountjoy Prison, North Circular Road, Dublin 7

Closed committal prison for males aged 18 years and over. It can accommodate 540 prisoners. It acts as the committal prison for males sentenced in the Dublin area.

Dochas Centre, North Circular Road, Dublin 7.

Closed committal prison for female prisoners aged 18 years and over. It was opened in January 2000 and accommodates approximately 90 female prisoners. It acts as the committal prison for females committed on remand or sentenced from all Courts outside the Munster area.

The Training Unit, Glengarriff Parade, North Circular Road, Dublin 7.

A semi-open institution for just under 100 male prisoners aged 18 years and over. It has been designed with lower levels of internal security. It operates a drug free environment with a strong emphasis on work and training.

Wheatfield Prison, Cloverhill Road, Clondalkin, Dublin 22.

A closed committal prison for male prisoners aged 18 years and over. It accommodates 372 prisoners and was recently designated as a committal prison for Courts in the North Leinster area.

Limerick Prison, Mulgrave Street, Limerick.

A closed committal prison for male and female prisoners aged 18 years and over. It can accommodate 275 males and 20 female prisoners.

Portlaoise Prison, Dublin Road, Portlaoise, Co. Laois.

A high security closed prison for male prisoners aged 18 years and over. The prisoners accommodated there include those linked with subversive crime and it acts as the committal prison for those sent to custody from the Special Criminal Court.

Midlands Prison, Dublin Road, Portlaoise, Co. Laois.

A closed prison opened in November 2000 with capacity for 474 male prisoners aged 18 years and over. It is designated as the committal prison for males sentenced in the South Leinster area.

St. Patrick's Institution, North Circular Road, Dublin 7.

A closed institution for male prisoners aged 16 to 21 years of age. It can accommodate 213 prisoners, both remand and sentenced persons.

Shelton Abbey, Arklow, Co. Wicklow.

An open centre for male prisoners aged 19 years and over. It has capacity for 60 prisoners who are regarded as requiring lower levels of security and are either serving short or nearing the end of long sentences.

Cork Prison, Rathmore Road, Cork City, Cork.

A closed committal prison for male prisoners aged 18 years and over. It can accommodate 272 persons.

Loughan House Open Centre, Blacklion, Co. Cavan.

An open centre for male prisoners aged 18 years and over. It can accommodate 110 prisoners who are regarded as requiring lower levels of security and are either serving short or nearing the end of long sentences.

Castlerea Prison, Harristown, Castlerea, Co. Roscommon.

A closed prison for male prisoners aged 18 years and over. It acts as the committal prison for remand and sentenced prisoners in the Ulster and Connaught regions. It can accommodate 228 prisoners, which includes up to 40 prisoners in the semi-open area known as "The Grove".

Cloverhill Prison, Cloverhill Road, Clondalkin, Dublin 22.

A closed prison for male prisoners aged 18 years and over. It was opened in October 1999 and primarily caters for remand prisoners. It has capacity for 431 prisoners and acts as the committal prison for persons sent to custody on remand in the Leinster area.

Arbour Hill Prison, Arbour Hill, Dublin 7.

A closed prison for male prisoners aged 18 years and over. Its prisoner profile is largely made up of long term sentenced prisoners and sex offenders. It can accommodate 139 prisoners.

Each of the prisons referred to above may accommodate remand prisoners at any time. A major development in the housing of remand prisoners has been the opening of the purpose built remand prison in Cloverhill. Castlerea Prison also has a purpose built remand unit where a number of remand prisoners are contained separately from the rest of the prison population. On 15 October 2007, there were 685 remand prisoners in the system, of which 63% were located in Cloverhill Prison and a further 6% located in Castlerea Prison. The remaining 31% of remand prisoners are accommodated in the other institutions, in particular the Dóchas Centre and Limerick and Cork prisons.

The prisons estate is undergoing an extensive programme of expansion at the present time. In this context, the following developments have taken place or are planned in the near future: over 40 extra spaces will shortly be available at the open centre at Shelton Abbey; a further 60 spaces will shortly be available at the open centre at Loughan House; the new C Block in Portlaoise Prison will provide 138 spaces, with these cells expected to be available in 2008; the new remand wing in Castlerea prison will provide an extra 64 spaces, expected to be available in mid 2008; and a new wing under construction in Wheatfield will increase capacity by 144 spaces, expected to be available in 2009.

In the longer term, the Deputy will be aware of my intention to construct major new prison complexes in North County Dublin and Munster. The new facilities will offer significant improvements in the areas of work training, education and medical services as well as providing predominantly single cell accommodation with in-cell sanitation facilities. These are major undertakings involving replacement of close to 40% of the entire prison estate. They will take a number of years to complete but it is my intention that they will proceed as quickly as possible.