Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

285. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 288 of 18 September 2018, when the requested data will be supplied regarding the number of prisoners sleeping on floors throughout prisons during the months of April, May, June and July 2018. [47194/18]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I regret the delay in providing the information requested by the Deputy in Parliamentary Question No. 288 of 18 September 2018 (37331/18). The Irish Prison Service has advised that it was due to the requirement for the Governor of each prison to check the records with regard to the relevant institution.

I am advised that the attached table reflects the number of instances of prisoners sleeping on mattresses on cell floors in Cloverhill, Midlands, Castlerea, Cork and Limerick prisons each night during the period in question. I am further advised that in the remaining 7 prisons, no prisoner slept on the floor.

It should be noted that the Prison Service must accept all prisoners committed by the Courts and does not have the option of refusing to take prisoners into custody. While increases in prisoner population numbers result in challenges within certain committal prisons, the Prison Service takes all possible steps to alleviate the situation through a combination of inter-prison transfers and other contingency measures.

Officials in the Prison Service work closely with Governors of affected prisons to alleviate capacity issues, by identifying prisoners who may be suitable for transfer to other prisons or prisoners who may be suitable for structured early release.

Prison refurbishment, which includes the provision of extra prison spaces, has placed additional pressure on prison capacity during the period in question. Relevant projects included refurbishment at D1 Landing at Cloverhill Prison, two Units at Wheatfield Place of Detention, the construction of the Violence Reduction Unit at Midlands Prison, and renovation and refurbishment works at Castlerea Prison. These projects, while an essential element of modernisation, result in unavoidable temporary bed closures - and consequential reductions in capacity - while the works are undertaken.

I would also like to inform the Deputy that with regard to a similar question asked by her in July 2018 (Dáil Questions 673, 737, 738 and 748) I have been informed by my officials in the Irish Prison Service that, due to a methodological error, the figures provided on that occasion were not accurate. A revised methodology has now been implemented to ensure that the correct figures will be provided in future. This is very much regretted and the information provided in the table attached now includes the correct figures.