Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 51: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform the number of prisoners held in the State and on temporary release at the latest date for which figures are available; if he will give the equivalent figures for the same date for each year since 2002; the average number of prisoners on temporary release for each month of this year; the steps that are being taken to deal with overcrowding and to reduce the number of prisoners availing of temporary release; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35370/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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It is important to put our increasing prisoner population in context and within the management of this population to look at the role that temporary release can play. Indeed Ireland is not unique in having to manage an increasing prisoner population - a fact acknowledged by the Inspector of Prisons in his commentary on this issue. It is evident from a perusal of the prison statistics for recent years that there has been a consistent increase in the total prisoner population. For example, over the past 12 months the total number in custody has increased by 412 or an 10.41% rise in the number in custody. This increase - evident over recent years - is due in large measure to the significant additional resources this Government has invested in the Criminal Justice System. The Garda Síochána has been increasingly successful in prosecuting criminals and combined with extra court sittings we have a higher rate of committals to our prison system which itself has also benefited from additional capital investment to provide new and upgraded prison spaces.

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 and in administering short sentences, and is an incentive to well-behaved prisoners.

Temporary release arrangements operate similarly to a system of parole, which is a feature of prison systems worldwide. They 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. The Irish Prison Service has also used temporary release as a means of reducing numbers in times of significant overcrowding. 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.

Turning to data on the percentage of prisoners on temporary release again it may interest the Deputy to put some context on the current situation. For example in 1997 some 19.2% of prisoners were on temporary release. Turning to current figures over a decade later and mindful of our increased overall population, on 5 October 2010 there were 605 prisoners on temporary release. This represented 11.78% of the overall prisoner population for that day. The figures for the corresponding date from 2002 onwards are as follows:

The average number of prisoners on temporary release for each month this year is set out in the table below.

I have acknowledged previously our increasing prisoner population. In doing that I have also referred to the Government's commitment to providing resources to the Irish Prison Service so that an extensive programme of investment in prisons infrastructure could be undertaken which has involved both the modernisation of the existing estate and the provision of extra prison spaces. This significant programme of capital works includes the new prisons in Castlerea, the Midlands, Cloverhill, the Dóchas Centre and new accommodation in Limerick, Portlaoise, Castlerea and Wheatfield prisons and at the open centres in Shelton Abbey and Loughan House. Since 1997 almost 1,800 new prison spaces have come on stream in the prison system and this figure will rise to 1,920 when the new block in Wheatfield is fully open.

In addition, Government capital investment will allow the Irish Prison Service to continue with its building programme. The Irish Prison Service plan to commence construction later this year on a new accommodation block in the Portlaoise/Midlands prisons complex which will provide 300 prison spaces in 2012. Also in the short term, work is due to commence on converting an administrative building on the Dóchas site into a new accommodation block which will provide 70 spaces by the end of 2010.

I am confident that the Government's continued commitment to providing additional prison spaces which these new developments will provide will no doubt assist the Irish Prison Service in reducing the rate of prisoners on temporary release in the future.