Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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210. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the incentives, excluding new gratuity rates that have been made available to underpin the incentivised regimes policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26434/13]

Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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212. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if individual incentivised regime policies have been introduced in each prison; if he will details these individual policies; the number of prisoners involved in these policies in each prison; if he will make a statement on the matter. [26436/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 210 and 212 together.

I can inform the Deputy that the Incentivised Regimes Policy was introduced on a phased basis across all prisons in 2012. Incentivised Regimes provides for a differentiation of privileges between prisoners according to their level of engagement with services and quality of behaviour. The objective is to provide tangible incentives to prisoners to participate in structured activities and to reinforce good behaviour, leading to a safer and more secure environment. There are three levels of privilege - basic, standard and enhanced.

Each prison has developed an information booklet on how the scheme operates and specifically on the criteria and privileges associated with each level of regime.

The standard set of core privileges provided in each prison comprises of different levels of daily gratuity ranging from €0.95 to €2.20, the number and length of visits a prisoner is allowed to receive and the number of telephone calls a prisoner is allowed to make. Each prison has drawn up a list of privileges available under each regime level. The list of available privileges is likely to vary between prisons and within different areas of a prison, depending on the operational and infrastructure requirements of each prison. Examples of other incentives offered include improved accommodation ( e.g. move from dormitory accommodation to a single cell in an open centre, move to a cell with in-cell sanitation), access to facilities such as DVD player, games consoles, etc, and access to employment opportunities within the prison e.g. kitchens, laundries etc.

The table following shows the number of prisoners at each level broken down by institution on 27 May, 2013.