Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Probation Service is an executive agency of the Department of Justice with the primary purpose of assessment and management of offenders in the community and is committed to working to reduce offending, create safer communities and fewer victims through rehabilitation.

The Probation Service supervises individuals who are subject to:

• Court orders, such as Supervision Probation Orders and Community Service Orders;
• Community Return;
• Supervision during deferment of penalty;
• Post Release Supervision;
• Conditional Suspended or Part-Suspended Sentences;
• Supervised Temporary Release.

Regarding individuals released from prison, the Probation Service supervises people where a court imposes a post release supervision order or where a judge imposes a suspended or part-suspended sentence on condition that the person who has offended remains under the supervision of a probation officer for the specified time that the custodial sentence is suspended.

In addition, a person may be under the supervision of the Probation Service as part of their participation in the Community Return Scheme, an incentivised early release scheme co-managed by the Irish Prison Service and the Probation Service. Under the Community Return Scheme, people in prison can be approved for reviewable temporary release coupled with a requirement to complete community service work in a supervised group setting under the supervision of the Probation Service.

I am advised by the Probation Service that it is not possible to provide figures by prison as this would involve the examination of a significant number of records and would constitute a disproportionate amount of staff time and resources. However, to be of assistance to Deputy, I have provided the numbers associated with Part Suspended Sentence Supervision Orders (PSSSOs), Post Release Supervision Orders (PRSOs), and those participating in the Community Return Scheme for each of the last 10 years.

Table 1- The number of persons in prison on 31^stDecember of the year that are subject to Part Suspended Sentence Supervision Orders (PSSSO) and are due to come out into the community on Probation Service supervision on completion of the custodial part of their sentence.

Persons in Prison	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Number of persons in Prison on PSSSO due to come out into community of Probation supervision	733	664	685	687	626	659	712	835	837	843	1,026

Table 2- The number of persons in prison on 31^stDecember of the year that are subject to Post Release Supervision Order that are to be supervised by the Probation Service when they are released in to the community.

Persons in Prison*	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Number of persons in Prison on PRSO due to come out into community of Probation supervision	353	373	294	307	329	270	287	340	345	382	424

Table 3- The number of persons that commenced on Community Return during the year.

Community Return	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Number of Persons that commenced on Community Return over the year	299	396	455	323	301	221	218	206	287	218	176