Call to improve North's prison system

Improvements to the North's prisons are required immediately, while the separation of republican and loyalist prisoners should end, the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee in Westminster has recommended.

Magilligan Prison in Co Derry is in a poor state, while the main Maghaberry Prison in Co Antrim is too small, housing 850 inmates when it was built for 450.

Minister of State for Prisons Paul Goggins is expected to make an announcement next week on a state of the art, £200 million (€278 million) prison for the North, amid speculation that it could be located at Magilligan.

The committee recommended building on the Magilligan site to "capitalise on the accumulated experience and many areas of good practice there". However, housing most of the North's 1,500 inmates at Magilligan may cause controversy. It is located about 75 miles from Belfast, where most prisoners originate, and would cause visiting difficulties.

There are 70 paramilitary prisoners in Maghaberry, half of them loyalist and half republican, housed in separate wings. In its report, published yesterday, the committee called for an end to this separation, but acknowledged it is unlikely to happen in the short term.

It recognised the need for "controlled movement" of paramilitary prisoners, but said separation had a negative impact on some prisoners' educational and recreational opportunities.

The committee also recommended that the 45 women prisoners in the North should have a self-contained facility. Women prisoners are detained at Hydebank Wood in Belfast which is also a juvenile detention centre.

It found that fine defaulters "represent a disproportionate demand on the scarce resources" of the system. It was "astounded" that 59 per cent of people in prisons in the North were fine defaulters. It said if the service did not have to deal with so many remand prisoners and fine defaulters, "its burden would be significantly lighter".

© 2007 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times