COMPENSATION payments of almost £170,000 were paid to prisoners for injuries received in jails in 1995, the Dail Committee of Public Accounts has been told. The State also paid almost £750,000 to gardai for injuries received in the course of their duties.
In a discussion on the accounts of the prison, Garda and courts services, the committee was also told £18 million was paid in overtime in 1995 to prison officers.
Compensation of £168,605 was paid to a total of 24 prisoners, and the awards ranged from £657 to £24,291. The largest payment was to a prisoner in Limerick who claimed she had been injured and suffered paralysis when she fell while carrying a tray down stairs. Another prisoner received £10,000 in payment and £5,000 in legal costs after a manhole he lifted fell on his foot.
Compensation to gardai totalled £742,005 in 53 cases and included a £10,000 award to a garda who was injured when she fell during a charity run. Fourteen prison officers and two other employees injured on the job received almost £250,000 in compensation in the same year.
In overtime payments, the single largest amount paid out was £35,000 to an assistant chief officer in Mountjoy, whose gross pay was £62,000. The top five overtime payments were to officers in Mountjoy. The Secretary of the Department of Justice, Mr Tim Dalton, said levels of overtime had dropped significantly since the 1980s. A review of operations was under way and a report expected within two months.
The levels of drug abuse in Mountjoy jail had also dropped, Mr Dalton told the committee. Although addiction levels were about 60 to 70 per cent of inmates, prisoners were finding it increasingly difficult to get drugs because of new camera systems, searching arrangements and drug treatment programmes.
Mr Ned O'Keeffe (FF), made comparisons with Cork prison where he said the problem was much less significant. Mr Dalton said heroin was a Dublin problem.