APPENDIX 1
The Steele Review Report submitted to
the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
SAFETY REVIEW TEAM
REVIEW OF SAFETY AT HMP MAGHABERRY
When you appointed us on 7 August you gave us
the following terms of reference:
— "to consider, in consultation
with prison management, staff, their unions, prisoners and other
interested groups and taking account of relevant practice in other
jurisdictions, the options for improving conditions at Maghaberry
Prison, particularly as they relate to safety, for all prisoners
and staff, remembering the Prison Service's statutory obligations
as set out in s 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, and bearing
in mind the lessons of the past and the new environment created
by the Good Friday Agreement, and to make recommendations to the
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland".
You asked us to report by the end of August
and made it clear that what you wanted was a set of recommendations,
not a weighty tome. We have taken you at your word. An account
of the consultation exercise we carried out and our recommendations
are contained in three Appendices to this letter covering options
in relation to separation, other issues which came up and a list
of the individuals and groups who helped us.
You will see that we have concluded in Attachment
A that separation of paramilitary prisoners is necessary in the
interest of safety. We reached this view after much soul-searching
and on the basis that the Government will never again concede
complete control of the wings to prisoners as happened at Maze.
We have not spelt out how separation should be arranged within
the prison. That is a matter for the Prison Service and the Governor
but we are satisfied, from discussions with prison management,
that suitable arrangements can be made. We hope that separation
outside the wings, for example, in education, can be avoided.
Otherwise the regime for separated prisoners could be affected.
The issues set out in Attachment B all in one
way or another relate to safety within the prison. In particular
we believe that the regular delivery of a comprehensive regime
makes a huge contribution to safety. We hope that the Government
will ensure that the resources necessary for this will be made
available.
We are very grateful to all those listed in
Attachment C who gave us freely of their time and expertise. The
Governor of Maghaberry, in particular, could not have been more
helpful in facilitating our work in the prison.
There is one point not covered in the Attachments
which we wish to raise with you. Unlike Great Britain, Northern
Ireland does not have a Prison Ombudsman. We believe that such
a post could make a valuable contribution to defusing the tensions
which are bound to arise in prisons.
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