APPENDIX 12
Memorandum submitted by the Alliance Party
of Northern Ireland
Alliance is very concerned at the current situation
in HMP Maghaberry, and in particular the continuing demands that
are being made for segregation. There is no doubt, that for some,
this dispute is being hyped up for political purposes.
Alliance deplores the current campaign of violence
and intimidation being levied by both Republicans and Loyalists
on the streets, and through attacks upon prisoner officers' homes.
Alliance is particularly concerned at the recent attacks against
the homes of prison officers, and notes that is only through good
fortune that there has been no serious injury or loss of life.
In one instance, the daughter of an officer carried a pipe bomb
into a house and left it overnight. These attacks have continued
since the Maghaberry Review Team tabled their report.
It is important to note that Maghaberry is a
mixed general-purpose prison. It includes not only those from
a paramilitary background, both Loyalist and Republican, but also
those convicted of non-scheduled offences, and notably a number
of asylum seekers (who are not suspected, never mind convicted,
of any crime).
There is no desire within the wider community
for a return to the situation of the past with political status
and de facto segregation. The perception and reality was that
the prisoners controlled the prison on the inside, and that the
prison officers simply controlled the perimeter. Furthermore,
it was a particular set of prisoners, the paramilitary godfathers,
who controlled what happened on particular wings.
It is unclear whether the current demands are
for segregation based on paramilitary organisations or perceived
communal background. It would be even more sinister if the two
were equated.
It is most important that it remains clear that
it is the Prison Service, not the prisoners, who remain in control
of what happens within the prison.
While the prisons are perhaps the last environment
in which attempts should be made to socially-engineer integration,
there is no automatic right for prisoners to demand segregation.
Rather, it should be the aim of the authorities to maintain a
regime that is as close to normal, and comparable to the situation
within prisons in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. The
notion of `choice' is not something normally associated with a
prison.
Any justification for the acknowledgement of
any political status disappeared with the conclusion of the Good
Friday Agreement. Therefore, demands for formal segregation or
separation should be resisted.
On a similar philosophy, Alliance supports the
intention of the NIO to construct a single Juvenile Justice Centre
that will cater for young offenders from all backgrounds in one
location, with no differentiation being made between the children
in question.
Alliance places a premium on the safety of both
prison officers and prisoners. The argument that this is only
achieved through segregation is not necessarily correct. When
the prison authorities cede de facto control of certain sections
of prisons to prisoners, then arguably the risks become greater.
The danger that arises that the "leaders" of paramilitary
organisations take on authority, and the lives of those within
those organisations who clash with these godfathers, and indeed
those who are not associated with any paramilitary organisation
are put at risk.
At the same time, Alliance would urge a commonsense
and pragmatic approach to taken on a case-by-case basis. We are
struck by the case in England where a young prisoner with an ethnic
minority background was placed in the same cell as a National
Front activist.
Any changes to the current regime must be capable
of being delivered, and the Government must remain committed to
persevering with its chosen course of action, even in the midst
of further trouble in the prison and on the streets.
16 October 2003
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