Separation at Maghaberry prison

national | miscellaneous | news report Monday September 08, 2003 14:54 by Rapper Tandy

Steele Report recommends 'separation'

The British Government is to separate republican and loyalist prisoners in Northern Ireland's top security Maghaberry Prison.

The whole report can
be downloaded as a .pdf file from the NIO office site at http://www.nio.gov.uk/press/030908a.htm

Separation at Maghaberry prison

The move was conceded in the wake of violent clashes between rival groups in the Co Antrim jail and in the face of a ``dirty protest`` by a group of Republican POWs.

However, ministers claim the move was in no way a return to the system of segregation which used to operate in the now closed Maze Prison, under
which paramilitary groups virtually ran their own prison section.

Prison staff would still remain in complete control of the jail, security minister Jane Kennedy pledged.

The move is being introduced following a report by John Steele, a former head of prisons in Northern Ireland, who was asked by Secretary of State Paul Murphy last month to carry out a review into the safety of both staff and prisoners in the jail.