Written answers
Wednesday, 15 April 2015
Department of Justice and Equality
Prisoner Data
Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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377. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 140 of 2 April 2015, if she will clarify the severity of crime, by category, of which the 293 prisoners deemed to have absconded from prison in the period 2010 to 2015 were accused of and-or convicted of; the number of such prisoners or other prisoners who absconded while on bail during the period in question; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14627/15]
Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy, that of the 15 prisoners who were still at large when I replied to Parliamentary Question No. 140 of 2 April 2015, one of these is now back in custody since 3 April 2015. It should be emphasised that all but 14 of the 293 prisoners who absconded from prison in the period 1 January 2010 to 31 March 2015 are now back in custody or have been released having served the remainder of their sentence.
The following table sets out the offences for which the 14 prisoners who remain at large were convicted.
It is not possible to provide a breakdown of the information requested by the Deputy in respect of the offences for which the persons in question were convicted who are now back in custody or have been released from prison. The reason is that to provide the details requested would require the retrospective manual examination of the records of each individual prisoner. Such an examination would require a disproportionate and inordinate amount of staff time and effort and can not be justified in current circumstances where there are other significant demands on resources.Prisoners still at large having absconded during the period 1 January 2010 to 31 March 2015
Year Controlled Drug Offences Damage to Property and the Environment Attempts/Threat to Murder Dangerous Negligent Acts Theft and Related Offences 2010 2 1 4 2011 1 2012 1 1 2014 1 1 2015 1 1 Total 4 1 2 1 6
In so far as the question of prisoners absconding on bail is concerned, the position is that statistics in relation to breach of bail are not maintained in a manner which would enable such figures to be readily extracted.
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