Written answers

Thursday, 17 February 2022

Department of Justice and Equality

Prison Service

Photo of Patrick CostelloPatrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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251. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of prison officers employed by the Irish Prison Service over the past ten years, by prison institution, in tabular form. [8863/22]

Photo of Helen McEnteeHelen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can advise the Deputy that for security and operational reasons the Irish Prison Service is not in a position to provide a breakdown of the staff resources allocated to individual prisons.

However, the number of Prison Grade staff employed by the Irish Prison Service for the period 2011 – 2021 (as at Dec 31 2021) is outlined in the table below. 

Number of Prison Grade staff employed by the Irish Prison Service for the period 2011 – 2021 (as at Dec 31 2021)

Year Prison Officers Other Grades
2011 2,411 899
2012 2,320 942
2013 2,263 1,004
2014 2,167 1,086
2015 2,123 1,064
2016 2,073 1,020
2017 2,025 1,033
2018 2,077 1,037
2019 2,183 1,172
2020 2,166 1,088
2021 2,175 1,085
* Prison Officers & Recruit Prison Officers

** Governor Grades, Assistant Chief Officers, Work Training Officer’s, Chief Officers, Trade Officers, Tutors, Nurse Officers and Prison Admin Staff

Photo of Patrick CostelloPatrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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252. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the average number of prisoners in prison in the State over the past ten years, by prison institution, in tabular form. [8864/22]

Photo of Helen McEnteeHelen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that the Irish Prison Service collates and publishes the prisoner population breakdown, including those serving prison sentences, on a daily basis and this information is available on the Irish Prison Service website www.irishprisons.ie.

The average number of prisoners in custody per institution over the past ten years is outlined in the table below.

Daily Average number of prisoners per institution for the period 2012 to 2021

Institution 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Arbour Hill 146 141 141 138 134 133 136 135 130 125
Castlerea 361 354 338 308 293 292 300 306 297 286
Cloverhill 429 402 413 359 382 356 402 400 362 369
Cork 259 231 226 218 253 272 288 291 271 255
Limerick (female) 28 29 27 24 31 28 33 36 28 28
Limerick (male) 261 225 223 224 221 211 214 215 206 195
Loughan House 104 124 119 116 116 109 110 106 105 95
Midlands 616 762 823 805 814 818 823 840 814 802
Mountjoy (female) 124 127 123 107 109 116 132 134 120 116
Mountjoy (male) 603 537 556 537 515 563 679 684 667 691
Portlaoise 278 262 246 218 198 221 227 232 225 211
Shelton Abbey 102 104 102 101 101 98 97 102 93 96
**St. Patricks 204 129 11 3 1 0 0 0 0 0
*** Training Unit 116 105 89 92 90 25 0 0 0 0
Wheatfield 687 626 478 472 460 438 452 490 505 523
Total 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 temporarily closed on 22 May 2017

Photo of Patrick CostelloPatrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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253. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the programmes that exist in the prison system that cater to the specific needs of the Travelling community; and the initiatives that are taken to encourage their uptake of educational opportunities while in prison. [8874/22]

Photo of Helen McEnteeHelen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Irish Prison Service that there are a number of ongoing programmes and initiatives specifically focused on the needs of members of the Travelling community.

Education is an important prison-based service, and participation in education is a key to improving outcomes for prisoners and reducing recidivism and the adult educational programmes include programmes which cater to the specific needs of the Traveller community. 

Education programmes encourage Traveller participation through identifying barriers and articulating and presenting benefits of participation and aims to enhance Travellers’ confidence and motivation to participate. 

The programmes support the development of culturally appropriate services by engaging with Travellers to identify the types and nature of services of interest/relevance and the provision of appropriate services, leading to improved outcomes.

The Prison Service works with its partners Travellers in Prison Initiative, St. Stephen’s Green Trust and the Probation Service and through this partnership approach positive steps have been taken. This includes the identification of Traveller Liaison teachers to support greater access and adaptation of education services for Travellers and awareness training for prison staff on issues arising for Travellers.

The mediation programme, a partnership between Prison Education schools, Midlands Traveller Conflict Mediation Initiative, the Red Cross and Travellers in Prison Initiative, is in place in a number of prisons.  The programme is facilitated by Travellers and aims to develop intervention skills to address some of the issues that can lead to person on person violence in prisons. The programme develops conflict awareness and is an effective way of resolving disputes and a number of prisoners are trained as mediators.

Under a partnership between the Irish Red Cross, the Prison Service and the Education and Training Boards of Ireland,  the Community Based Health and First Aid programme is currently in operation across our prisons.  This is a peer led programme to train inmate Irish Red Cross volunteers about community health. Each year, inmate volunteers are guided through a community assessment which aims to identify the main health issues in their prison community. Their role as volunteers is to develop projects aimed at improving those issues. Volunteers learn in the classroom and educate their peers on the landings. To date, over 1,500 prisoners have trained in Community Based Health and First Aid, many of whom are members of the Traveller Community.  

Throughout the pandemic, the Red Cross Volunteers played a pivotal role in promoting awareness and understanding of infection control and vaccine awareness to all prisoners, including the publication of traveller-specific newsletters and posters.  

In late 2020, the Prison Service in collaboration with the equine industry opened the Equine Centre at Castlerea Prison.  The equine programme while open to all prisoners, early indications show a positive interest in this programme from Traveller men.  It is specially designed for delivery to students with literacy issues and is delivered visually with voice over and assisted with the use of diagrams.  It is an accredited programme endorsed by the Racing Academy and Centre of Education.  

Prisoners face many barriers to successful integration back into society and the equine programme can have a positive impact on physical and mental wellbeing, offer preparation for employment and ultimately make the community safer through a reduction in reoffending.  

Photo of Patrick CostelloPatrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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254. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when an updated version of the Irish Prison Service and Education and Training Boards Prison Education Strategy will be published given that the current strategy is set to expire in 2022. [8879/22]

Photo of Helen McEnteeHelen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Irish Prison Service that the Joint Irish Prison Service/Education and Training Boards Ireland Prison Education Strategy 2019 to 2022 is currently being implemented. 

Strategic actions being progressed under this include: Supporting the Prison Education Service; Making effective use of digital systems for teaching and learning; Supporting the provision of broad based education; Supporting integration and sentence planning; Supporting the delivery of library services in prisons; Progressing Quality Assurance and reviews; and Ensuring compliance with legislation including GDPR and Health And Safety.

The aim of the Prison Education Service is to deliver a high quality, broad, flexible programme of education that helps people in custody cope with their sentence, achieve personal development, prepare for life after release, and establish capacity for life-long learning.

Following internal and external consultation with relevant stakeholders, it is intended that the new Joint Irish Prison Service/Education and Training Boards Ireland Prison Education Strategy will be developed and implemented from 2023.

Central to the new Strategy will be building on the lessons learned over the past two years of the Covid-19 pandemic and building on the new modalities of learning that have been introduced, including a move away from classroom only learning and adopting a blended approach to the delivery of education.

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