John Bruton
Question:146 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice the proportion of prisoners who have no educational qualification and who left school without such qualification.
Vol. 398 No. 1
146 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice the proportion of prisoners who have no educational qualification and who left school without such qualification.
As any information about the attainment of prisoners at school does not become available as a matter of course and cannot always be elicited, it is not possible to give a precise response to the Deputy's question.
However, a sampling exercise conducted by education staff in prisons a few yeas ago indicated that less than half of all prisoners receive any formal education beyond primary school and that between one-quarter and one-third of all prisoners have serious reading and writing problems.
A substantial education programme is made available in all prisons and priority is given to prisoners who are most educationally disadvantaged.