I am informed by the Irish Prison Service that it does not collate the data in the format requested by the Deputy. It collates and publishes Prisoner Restricted Regime Census information on a quarterly basis. In 2024 the information was collated on the following dates;
Tuesday 16th January 2024
Tuesday 16th April 2024
Tuesday 16th July 2024
Tuesday 15th October 2024
This information is available on the Irish Prison Service website using the following link, www.irishprisons.ie/information-centre/statistics-information/census-reports/.
As the Deputy will be aware there are a number of reasons for the restriction of 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 includes the introduction of Statutory Instrument 276 of 2017 which amended Rule 27 of the Prison Rules 2007 which provides for prisoners to be allowed to spend a minimum period of 2 hours out of their cell daily. This is operationalised through the Irish Prison Service's Policy on the Elimination of Solitary Confinement, which is publicly available on their website.
