Annex C
NO RETURN TO MAZE STYLE SEGREGATION: KENNEDY
Security Minister Jane Kennedy today said that
there would be no return to the conditions that existed at Maze
Prison following the announcement that the Government is to accept
the recommendations of the Steele Review into the safety of staff
and prisoners within Maghaberry.
The Review recommended that republican and loyalist
paramilitary prisoners should be accommodated separately from
each other, and from the rest of the prison population, on a voluntary
basis within Maghaberry.
Prison staff would retain control, lock-up would
apply and sanctions would be available for non-compliance with
proper orders. Jane Kennedy, speaking today after a written Ministerial
Statement from Secretary of State, Paul Murphy was laid in Parliament,
said:
"No-one wants a return to the conditions
that existed at Maze where prisoners could intimidate and attack
other prisoners and staff.
Indeed, by far the majority of the most serious
incidents that have taken place in our prisons have happened under
segregated conditions.
Prison staff must and will remain in control.
The Government, prison management and prison
officers remain firmly of the view that integration is the safest
regime for prisoners and staff when prisoners conform and co-operate.
But a small minority of prisoners have now refused
that co-operation. They have set themselves against the regime
in a way that comprises the safety of both staff and prisoners.
We will not allow that to lead to a breakdown
of the whole regime.
I would like to express my gratitude for the
work of prison staff in maintaining that regime and for the way
they have carried out their duties, often under extremely demanding
conditions and in the face of serious provocation and intimidation.
Prison Service management and staff must have
wholehearted backing of civic society across Northern Ireland."
The Minister concluded:
"The people who voted for the Agreement,
which included the desperately difficult issue of the early release
of paramilitary prisoners, did so on the basis that there would
be no place for any one who would use violence to achieve political
ends.
Society must be protected from those who have
refused to accept that."
Copies of the Steele Review Team's report can
be viewed on the Northern Ireland Office web site: www.nio.gov.uk
Notes to Editors:
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland,
Paul Murphy MP, announced a consultation on safety of staff and
prisoners within Maghaberry Prison on 5 August 2003. The review,
led by John Steele, former head of the Northern Ireland Prison
Service, assisted by Father Kevin Donaghy, former chaplain at
the Maze Prison and Canon Barry Dodds, former chaplain at Belfast
Prison, was asked to consider, in consultation with prison management,
staff, their unions, prisoners and other interested groups, the
options for improving conditions, particularly as they relate
to safety, for all prisoners and staff.
The terms of reference of the Review Team were:
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 at 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.
8 September 2003
|
