Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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339. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of people held in solitary confinement within the Irish Prison Service for 21 hours or more, or locked up for more than 15 consecutive days, during 2023 and in January 2024, in tabular form. [8854/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware there are a number of reasons for the restriction to a person’s regime while in custody. This includes for safety or protection reasons, on the grounds of order and to protect the prison population from the spread of infection.

My Department has taken steps to bring the Irish prison system into line with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (known as ‘Mandela Rules’) in respect of solitary confinement. This included the introduction of Statutory Instrument 276 of 2017 which amended Rule 27 of the Prison Rules 2007 and which provides for prisoners to be allowed to spend a minimum period of 2 hours out of his or her cell daily. This Statutory Instrument is implemented through the Irish Prison Service Policy on the Elimination of Solitary Confinement, which is publicly available on their website.

As the Deputy will be aware there are a number of reasons why a person may be on a restricted regime but this is not to say that in all instances where a person is on a restricted regime that they will be held in solitary confinement for 22+ hours a day. The Prison Rules 2007 also provide that the imposition of a restricted regime is closely monitored by the Irish Prison Service and the status of each prisoner on restricted regime within the prison system is regularly reviewed.

On occasion, it is necessary for prisoners to be separated from the general prison population. Under Rule 62 of the Prison Rules 2007, a Governor may decide, for the maintenance of good order in the prison, to remove a prisoner from general association or structured activity. The detention of a prisoner under this Rule must be reviewed by the Governor every 7 days. Where a prisoner is detained under Rule 62 for more than 21 days, the Governor must, on a weekly basis, submit a report to the Director General including the views of the prisoner, explaining the need for the continued removal of the prisoner from structured activity or association and requesting an extension on the prisoner’s detention under the Rule.

I am advised that in the past seven days, up to and including 21 February 2024, 8 prisoners have had their detention on Rule 62 extended for a further week by the Director General.

Rule 63 of the Prison Rules, 2007 provides that a prisoner may, either at his/her own request or when the Governor considers it necessary, in so far as is practicable and subject to the maintenance and good order and safe and secure custody, be kept separate from other prisoners who are reasonably likely to cause significant harm to him/her. The number of prisoners on Rule 63 fluctuates daily and the length of time spent on Rule 63 varies greatly as the level of threat and perceived threat changes. Prisoners on Rule 63 may be permitted to mix with other prisoners on Rule 63 in different risk groups and therefore are not necessarily detained on ‘22-hour lock-up’ or considered to be in ‘solitary confinement’. The Governor may also seek to place a prisoner on Rule 63 if information from An Garda Síochána or other intelligence sources indicate concerns about safety.

Further to this, a smaller number of prisoners may have their regimes restricted for medical (Rule 64) or for disciplinary reasons (Rule 67). Prisoners placed on a restricted regime for medical reasons are reviewed every 24 hours by the medical team and the Governor.

I can advise the Deputy that the Irish Prison Service has confirmed that statistics available regarding prisoners on a restricted regime are collated by the Irish Prison Service Statistics Unit and published quarterly on its website (www.irishprisons.ie). This information can be found in the Information Centre under Statistics & Information, Census Reports.

However, I am further advised that it is not possible to provide the Deputy with the information in relation to the length of time that individual prisoners remain on a restricted regime as this is not centrally recorded or published as part of the quarterly census.