Written answers

Tuesday, 1 February 2022

Department of Justice and Equality

Prison Service

Photo of Patrick CostelloPatrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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607. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the total prison population by year for each of the years 2010 to 2021 and to date in 2022; the number of prisoners incarcerated for petty crime for the same time period; and the percentage of the prison population broken down by male and female inmates. [4733/22]

Photo of Helen McEnteeHelen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The information requested by the Deputy is provided in the tables below.

Table 1 provides the number of committals to the Irish Prison Service for the period 2010 – 2022 broken down by male and female.

Table 2 provides the daily average population for the period 2010 to 2021 broken down by male and female.

The Prison Service does not record information on persons incarcerated for petty crimes, as this is not a specific category of offence. However, the Service records statistics relating to offence groups as well as by sentence length.

These statistics are available on the Irish Prison Service website and can be located in the Information Centre - Statistics and Information – Yearly Statistics – Sentenced committals each year from year 2007 to year 2020.

Table 1 Committals to Prison for the period 2010 to 2022 broken down by male and female

Year Total Change from previous year - % Persons Change from previous year - % Male Female % Male % Female
2022* 458 453 409 44
2021** 6,136 -3.2 5,182 -1.5 4,695 487 90.6 9.4
2020 6,340 -29.0 5,263 -26.6 4,707 556 89.4 10.6
2019 8,939 10.8 7,170 10.5 6,276 894 87.5 12.5
2018 8,071 -13.1 6,490 -13.3 5,724 766 88.2 11.8
2017 9,287 -38.5 7,484 -40.5 6,403 1,081 85.6 14.4
2016 15,099 -12.2 12,579 -11.3 10,033 2,546 79.8 20.2
2015 17,206 6.5 14,182 5.8 11,264 2,918 79.4 20.6
2014 16,155 2.7 13,408 2.7 10,723 2,685 80.0 20.0
2013 15,735 -7.6 13,055 -5.8 10,729 2,326 82.2 17.8
2012 17,026 -1.7 13,860 -0.7 11,709 2,151 84.5 15.5
2011 17,318 0.8 13,952 1.4 12,050 1,902 86.4 13.6
2010 17,179 11.4 13,758 11.5 12,057 1,701 87.6 12.4

*Year 2022 – these figures are for the period 1 Jan to 26 Jan 2022

**Year 2021 – Figures may be subject to slight change pending the Publication of the Irish Prison Service Annual Report 2021

Table 2 Daily Average number of prisoners per institution for the period 2010 to 2021

Institution
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Arbour Hill 153 151 146 141 141 138 134 133 136 135 130 125
Castlerea 378 364 361 354 338 308 293 292 300 306 297 286
Cloverhill 465 433 429 402 413 359 382 356 402 400 362 369
Cork 303 295 259 231 226 218 253 272 288 291 271 255
Limerick (female) 26 31 28 29 27 24 31 28 33 36 28 28
Limerick (male) 307 301 261 225 223 224 221 211 214 215 206 195
Loughan House 134 122 104 124 119 116 116 109 110 106 105 95
Midlands 542 586 616 762 823 805 814 818 823 840 814 802
Mountjoy (female) 131 129 124 127 123 107 109 116 132 134 120 116
Mountjoy (male) 667 616 603 537 556 537 515 563 679 684 667 691
Portlaoise 263 270 278 262 246 218 198 221 227 232 225 211
Shelton Abbey 99 102 102 104 102 101 101 98 97 102 93 96
**St. Patricks 214 204 204 129 11 3 1 0 0 0 0 0
Training Unit 113 115 116 105 89 92 90 25 0 0 0 0
Wheatfield 495 671 687 626 478 472 460 438 452 490 505 523
Total 4,290 4,390 4,318 4,158 3,915 3,722 3,718 3,680 3,893 3,971 3,823 3,792

*Year 2021 – Figures may be subject to slight change pending the Publication of the Irish Prison Service Annual Report 2021.

**St Patrick’s Institution closed on 07 April 2017

***The Training Unit closed on 22 May 2017

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