Parliamentary Question: Prison Accommodation

30th November 0001

 404. Mr. Costello asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the maximum number that Clover Hill Prison is designed to accommodate; the maximum number there was at any time over the past month; the maximum time a deportee has been held there; the deportees who are being held alongside convicted criminals or persons being deported for other than asylum related reasons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28909/04]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell):  Clover Hill Prison is the committal prison for persons sent to prison by the courts in the Dublin and Leinster areas, on remand or awaiting trial. It was designed with a capacity of 400 prisoners, Following some "doubling up", it has a bed capacity for 433 prisoners. On 15 November 2004, 412 prisoners were detained there. I am informed that the highest occupancy level over the past month was 452.

Persons detained for deportation are treated as remand prisoners - they are subject to the same regime and receive the same privileges. Deportation prisoners are predominantly accommodated on the C division of the prison, along with other non-national prisoners. The power to detain those who are the subject of a deportation order is provided for in section 5 of the Immigration Act 1999, as amended by section 10 of the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act 2000. Persons can be detained for failing to comply with the requirements of a deportation order or to ensure their removal from the State. The Garda national immigration bureau, which is responsible for removals, makes every effort to keep the period of detention to a minimum. While I am unable to provide details on the longest period spent in custody by a person awaiting deportation, I can inform the Deputy that the earliest date that any person currently awaiting deportation was committed to custody for this reason was 5 October 2004. All others awaiting deportation were committed to prison after that date.