Written answers
Tuesday, 3 March 2015
Department of Justice and Equality
Prisoner Data
Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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316. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality to detail the total prison population; the number of prisoners, in tabular form, broken down by prison; the capacity of each prison within the State; the percentage occupation of each prison; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8845/15]
Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware the Irish Prison Service collates and publishes the prisoner population breakdown on a daily basis and this information is available on the Irish Prison Service website www.irishprisons.ie.
I can inform the Deputy that on 2nd March, 2015, there were 3,776 prisoners in custody as compared to a bed capacity of 4,126. This represents an occupancy level of 92%. A full breakdown to include, capacity, number in custody and percentage of bed capacity is set out in the table.
Institution | Bed Capacity | Number in Custody | % of Bed Capacity |
---|---|---|---|
Mountjoy Campus | |||
Mountjoy (Male) | 554 | 542 | 98% |
Mountjoy (Female) | 105 | 112 | 107% |
Training Unit | 96 | 83 | 86% |
St Patrick’s | 34 | 5 | 15% |
West Dublin Campus | |||
Cloverhill | 431 | 354 | 82% |
Wheatfield | 550 | 471 | 86% |
Portlaoise Campus | |||
Midlands | 870 | 824 | 95% |
Portlaoise | 291 | 226 | 78% |
Cork | 210 | 240 | 114% |
Limerick (Male) | 220 | 215 | 98% |
Limerick (Female) | 28 | 22 | 79% |
Castlerea | 340 | 325 | 96% |
Arbour Hill | 142 | 141 | 99% |
Loughan House | 140 | 117 | 84% |
Shelton Abbey | 115 | 99 | 86% |
Totals | 4,126 | 3,776 | 92% |
The Deputy will be aware that the average number of prisoners in custody in Ireland rose from 3,321 during 2007 to 4,318 during 2012, an increase of over 30%. Likewise the total number of committals to prison also rose sharply during the same period, from 11,934 in 2007 to 17,026 in 2012 – an increase of over 43%.
2013 saw the first significant decrease in prison numbers since 2007. There were 15,735 committals to prison in 2013 which was a decrease of 7.6% on the 2012 figure. The overall daily average number of prisoners in custody has also dropped in recent years. The average number in custody for 2014 was 3,916 a reduction of 10.8% on the 2011 average of 4,390.
The Deputy may wish to note that the number in custody reached a peak of 4,621 on 23rd February 2011. Today there are 845 less prisoners in custody which represents a decrease of 18%.
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