Letter from the Chairman of the Northern
Ireland Affairs Committee to Mr Paul Goggins MP, Minister of State
at the Northern Ireland Office
When we embarked upon our inquiry into the Northern
Ireland Prison Service, we had it in mind to publish our report
during the July to September period. On that basis, you assured
the Committee that you would make no final decision upon the siting
of any replacement for HMP Magilligan until after you had given
evidence to the Committee yourself and had had the chance to consider
what recommendations we might make.
The more we became immersed in our inquiry,
the clearer it became to us that we would need much longer to
produce the comprehensive and helpful report that we intended.
We are aware that the Prison Service is preparing an options paper
for you and you have indicated to me that you would like to be
in a position to consider this thoroughly as soon as possible
after you have received it. We fully understand and accept your
position on this.
Because we have now visited all of the prison
facilities in Northern Ireland itself and have taken evidence
from most key witnesses, we felt it would be helpful if we set
out the Committee's unanimous views on the Magilligan issue in
this letter, the content of which we intend to make public. Our
correspondence will also be published with our final report.
Whilst we fully accept the fact that there are
good arguments in favour of concentrating Northern Ireland prison
facilities within a 30 mile radius of Belfast, we do not believe
that this should be an overriding criterion in deciding where
any major new prison should be built. Indeed, the fact that this
is listed by the Prison Service Deputy Director, Mr Max Murray,
in his letter to us of 9 July 2007 as one of the nine essential
criteria would seem to indicate that a decision has already been
made that the replacement prison will not be on the Magilligan
site. This places you in a difficult position. On one hand, it
is publicly suggested that there are real options on siting. On
the other hand, one key site is effectively ruled out by biased
criteria. We believe that the case for and against a redevelopment
on the Magilligan site should be considered on its merits.
The Committee believes that although there can
be no question of the urgent need for replacing the H blocks at
Magilligan, the site itself is capable of extensive and versatile
redevelopment. This is already apparent when one considers how
many different and in some cases commendable developments have
already been made on this site. We would particularly refer to
Foyleview in this context.
Prisons are not only about buildings. They are
about the accumulated wisdom of staff, the links that are made
with the surrounding community in relation to educational opportunities
and resettlement and, perhaps above all, the morale of those committed
staff who work there. There are many acknowledged areas of good
practice at Magilligan which should not be lightly discarded.
Nor should it be forgotten that any new prison would have significant
teething problems before it could establish itself.
We would urge you therefore not to accept what
would appear to be the arbitrary requirement of close proximity
to Belfast and to be very careful before you sanction the abandonment
of those recognised areas of good practice at Magilligan. We also
think it would be prudent to acknowledge that the three site solution
is not the only one on the table and although the Committee is
not in a position to comment in detail, we have heard enough evidence
to realise that a four site solution would have some advantages.
Perhaps the most overriding case for retaining a prison at Magilligan
however, is that the site is owned by the Prison Service and it
would therefore be possible to phase the replacement over a carefully
defined period thus spreading the inevitably large cost over a
number of years.
All of these factors would mean that it would
be possible at the end of a decade to have an absolutely first
class prison at Magilligan at a significantly lower cost, and
with significantly less upheaval than the building of a new prison
on a green field site would inevitably entail. In conclusion,
it is the unanimous view of this Committee, for the reasons stated
above, that extensive prison facilities should be retained at
Magilligan.
Sir Patrick Cormack MP
Chairman
July 2007
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