Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

46. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to review the use of single-cell accommodation across the prison estate, in line with international standards on the accommodation of people in prison; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7533/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will be aware, the prison estate comprises a mix of institutions ranging from closed prisons, open prisons, semi-open prisons and remand facilities. This mix of accommodation enables the Service to provide a varied prison regime where progression through the system assists prisoners to prepare for release from custody on completion of a custodial sentence.

The provision of single cell accommodation for all prisoners, while desirable, is not currently possible due to the existing capacity within the prison estate, and current levels of committals. It is also the case that the number of people in custody is subject to increasing and decreasing trends. The Deputy may be aware that that total number of prisoners in custody on Friday 10 February 2023 was 4,433.

The total number of usable cells in the estate is approximately 3,327. Data from the last Cell Occupancy Census carried out by the Prison Service, and published in October 2022, indicates that 47.6% of prisoners in custody are accommodated in single cell accommodation.

It is also important to note that some prisoners are accommodated in multi-occupancy cells for reasons other than capacity and some prisoners, at committal stage, indicate a preference to share a cell with another person who may be known to them.  

All prisoners are assessed by prison management on committal with regard to their suitability for sharing a cell.

As the Deputy may be aware, Government has provided significant capital funding to the Irish Prison Service in order to enhance the existing prison infrastructure and to provide additional capacity. 

Works to modernise the entire Mountjoy Prison complex, to construct a new prison in Cork and to provide additional prisoner accommodation in the Midlands Prison, were undertaken in recent years. 

Last year, the Irish Prison Service reopened the newly refurbished Training Unit Place of Detention as a centre for older prisoners and this has provided an additional 96 prisoner spaces.  In addition, the construction of a new male wing and a female prison in Limerick Prison has now been completed providing 90 additional male and 22 additional female cell spaces.  The new male accommodation is already open and it is expected that the new standalone female prison will become operational in Q1 2023.

The need to ensure the availability of modern prison facilities with adequate capacity will be central to the development of the new Irish Prison Service Capital Strategy 2023, against the background of the work underway as part of the Programme for Government to develop policies and proposals to review policy options for prison and penal reform, including the effective and appropriate use of non-custodial sanctions.