Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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1230. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons who are currently in prison in the State. [1013/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can advise the Deputy that on 12 January 2022 there were 3,729 people in custody.

The Deputy may wish to note that a full breakdown of the number of people currently in prison is included in the Daily Population figures which are published on the website of the Irish Prison Service – www.irishprisons.ie.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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1231. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons who are currently in prison in the State who previously served time in prison for an offence in the past. [1014/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I have been advised by the Irish Prison Service that on 12 January 2022 there were 3,729 people in custody, of whom 2,153 have served prison sentences for previous convictions. 

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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1232. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of prisoners in the State who reported being assaulted while in prison in each of the past ten years; and if a breakdown can be provided on the nature of the assaults in tabular form. [1015/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that in 2012 the Irish Prison Service began using the State Claims Agency's National Incident Management System (“NIMS”) for the  reporting of data relating to prisoner on staff assaults and prisoner on prisoner assaults.

Prison staff are required to record all incidents that occur within a prison on this system and it allows for the more accurate recording of incidences of assault.

The Deputy should be aware that the figures for 2021 are not yet available, however the statistics requested will be available and published on the Irish Prison Service website by the end of March 2022.

The data requested by the Deputy in relation to prisoner on prisoner assaults for the period 2012 to 2020 is provided in the table below.

A detailed breakdown of the nature of each assault is not readily available and would require the manual examination of each record of assault. This would require the examination of over 4,500 records which would take an inordinate amount of time and could not be justified in the current circumstances.

I can advise the Deputy that the majority of assaults relate to physical altercations between individuals and are usually broken up by prison officers quickly without injury to either party.

It should be noted that any act of violence against a person is unacceptable and all assaults carried out within our prisons are reported to An Garda Síochána for investigation and prosecution if deemed appropriate.

Prisoner on Prisoner assaults for the period 2012 to 2020

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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1233. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons who died while in prison in each of the past ten years; and if a breakdown can be provided on the causes of death in tabular form. [1016/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can advise the Deputy that the information relating to the number of persons who died while in custody and the cause of their deaths for the period 2011 to date is provided in the tables below.

All deaths in custody are the subject to a Garda investigation and subsequently an inquest is held in a Coroner's Court. The cause of death is determined by a jury on the basis of the information presented to the Coroner’s Court.

The Deputy will also be aware that since April 2012 all deaths in custody are also subject to an independent investigation by the Inspector of Prisons.

The Irish Prison Service also has a robust, internal review mechanism which assesses the circumstances of a death in custody, highlights accountability and actions taken in relation to the incident, and outlines lessons learned.  This outcome review is reported to the Irish Prison Service National Suicide and Harm Prevention Steering Group, which is chaired by the Director General.

The circumstances of each death in custody and incident of self-harm are also examined by a suicide prevention group in each institution.  The groups are chaired by the Prison Governor, and include representatives from the various services including; Doctor, Psychiatry, Psychology, Chaplaincy, Probation, Education, and Prison staff.  The Groups are required to meet quarterly, or more often if necessary.  Their examinations fully cover the background and circumstances of each death.  Their objective is to identify, where possible, measures which might be implemented to contribute to a reduction in the risk of deaths in the future. 

Death in custody 2011 to 15 January 2022 classified by cause of death as determined by the Coroner