Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 352: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the weekly average cost of keeping a person in prison. [4424/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Currently the average annual cost of keeping a person in custody is calculated by the Irish Prison Service by dividing the annual running costs of the Irish Prison Service by the average daily number of offenders incarcerated during the year. These costs include certain items which are fixed regardless of the number of offenders in custody, e.g. staffing numbers, utilities and maintenance costs. In general, capital expenditure is excluded from the calculation in the interests of facilitating comparison between individual institutions. However, certain building projects under the heading 'small works and environmental projects' are included.

On that basis the latest available figure of €97,700 relates to the average cost of keeping a prisoner in custody during the calendar year 2007. Using this figure, the weekly average cost of keeping a person in prison during 2007 is approximately €1,875.