House of Commons - Northern Ireland Affairs

Select Committee on Northern Ireland Affairs Written Evidence

Written evidence from the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission

1. The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (the Commission) is a statutory body created by the Northern Ireland Act 1998. It has a range of functions including reviewing the adequacy and effectiveness of Northern Ireland law and practice relating to the protection of human rights,[29] advising on legislative and other measures which ought to be taken to protect human rights,[30] advising on whether a Bill is compatible with human rights[31] and promoting understanding and awareness of the importance of human rights in Northern Ireland.[32] In all of that work the Commission bases its positions on the full range of internationally accepted human rights standards, including the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), other treaty obligations in the Council of Europe and United Nations systems, and the non-binding "soft law" standards developed by the human rights bodies.

2. The Commission welcomes this inquiry into the Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS) and the opportunity to submit evidence. The Commission would also be very willing to give oral evidence to the Inquiry should Committee Members consider this would assist their deliberations.

THE COMMISSION'S WORK ON PLACES OF DETENTION

3. The Commission has for some time had a Working Group on Places of Detention, which recently broadened its remit to become a standing Committee on Detention, Policing and Criminal Justice. Commissioners on this committee have undertaken a series of visits to places of detention, including every prison in Northern Ireland. The Commission has also conducted extensive research into women's imprisonment (in Mourne House at HMP Maghaberry, and following the transfer to Hydebank Wood), and has also researched the treatment of children in custody. The Commission regularly submits responses to prison service consultations on draft policies. The Commission bases its work on the expectations contained within international human rights instruments.

4. The following submission is divided into two parts. The first section focuses on specific issues regarding individual prisons. The second provides bullet-points regarding over-arching concerns relating to human rights in prisons in Northern Ireland. The Committee's inquiry focuses on the prison estate, health services and education, and the concerns that we have encountered in, especially, the first two areas are set out below, along with other matters that may be of interest to the Committee.

SPECIFIC ISSUES IN INDIVIDUAL PRISONS

Magilligan Prison

5. Last year's inspection of Magilligan Prison by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons and the Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice (published December 2006) raised human rights concerns. The inspection was a follow up to the 2004 visit when serious shortcomings in the regime were identified by the Inspectors. Yet the 2006 inspection found that only two of the eleven recommendations from the previous report had been fully achieved, with a further four achieved in part.

6. The Commission shares the Inspectorates' concerns about issues of prisoner safety (and sense of safety) in Magilligan. Commissioners have raised with the Northern Ireland Prison Service concerns about cells having a single buzzer, for use in emergencies and to request access to the toilets. The Commission has serious concerns that prisoners' lives may be put at risk in this situation, raising issues related to Article 2 ECHR (the right to life).

7. The Commission also considers it unacceptable that in the 21st century not all prisoners have access to in-cell sanitation, including toilet and running water. On our visits to Magilligan prisoners have expressed feelings of degradation at having to wait to access the toilet, or to tell staff whether they need to urinate or defecate in order for officers to establish priority of need. The Commission endorses the Inspectors' recommendation that the H-Blocks should be demolished and replaced with more suitable accommodation with integral sanitation.

8. While levels of self-harm are reported to be low in Magilligan, the Inspection found that prisoners who self-harm are still occasionally held in the Special Supervision Unit (or punishment block) in strip clothing. The Commission considers that vulnerable self-harming or suicidal prisoners should not be held in what are effectively punishment blocks. When Commissioners visited the SSU/punishment block in autumn 2006 they found inadequate ventilation in the cells. One prisoner was dressed in his boxer shorts and a vest as he was so hot. Another young man was ill with the flu but being held in isolation. The Commission considers that ill prisoners should not be detained in the SSU. The Commission supports the Inspectors' recommendation that the SSU is unfit for purpose and should be replaced urgently.

9. Prisoners raised with Commissioners issues regarding child-centred visits. Prisoners said that when their child-centred visit has to be cancelled (for example due to court appearances) visits are not re-scheduled but have to wait until the next month. This does not take account of the rights of the child or children deprived of the visit, which should be the paramount consideration. The rights of the children of prisoners are further discussed below.

10. The 2006 Inspection report commented on improvement in education in Magilligan and Commissioners were also impressed by the positive work being done in the Magilligan Education Centre.

Maghaberry Prison

11. The Commission would draw the Committee's attention to the serious human rights issues raised by the most recent Inspection report (published May 2006), especially the Inspectors' finding that systems for dealing with bullying, and suicide prevention were underdeveloped.

12. In 2006 the Commission visited Maghaberry, meeting prisoners held under the separated regime, prisoners in the Special Supervision Unit (punishment block) and prisoners from Poland.

13. The Commission's concerns regarding the separated regime include: lengthy lock down times (analysis of the review of the regime suggests that prisoners can routinely be locked up for over 20 hours a day); the impact of "controlled movement" on prisoners; limited access to education and recreation; a high level of strip searching; and prisoners having to eat meals in cells. It was notable that loyalist and republican prisoners articulated the same concerns about what they saw as excessive security, which some prisoners said was having a very detrimental impact on their state of mind. The Commission has made representations to the Northern Ireland Prison Service about the need to ensure that the treatment of separated prisoners complies with human rights standards and to ensure that as far as possible, separated prisoners have the same level of access to services, such as education, as other prisoners.

14. The Commission was concerned at the detention of some loyalist prisoners in the SSU for periods of several months. These prisoners were being held in the SSU "for their own safety" following notification from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) that their lives were at risk. The SSU is not a suitable environment for people to be held in for long periods and this can only be detrimental to the individuals' mental health.

15. As in other prisons, the Commission is concerned that self-harming and suicidal prisoners are held in the SSU along with prisoners in isolation for disciplinary offences.

16. Discussions with Polish prisoners indicated that provision for "Foreign National" prisoners was patchy and depended largely on individual officers' use of discretion, for example in providing copies of newspapers in their own language. Some prisoners appeared to be very isolated. The Commission welcomes the development by the Northern Ireland Prison Service of a generic policy on "Foreign National" Prisoners. Operational policies for each establishment must be developed based on the principles of the generic policy.

Hydebank Wood Women's Prison

17. The Commission continues to call for an independent public inquiry into women's imprisonment in Mourne House, HMP Maghaberry, from 2002-04. The jury at the recent (February 2007) inquest into the death of Roseanne Irvine (who died in Mourne House in 2004) returned a narrative verdict commencing with the declaration that "the prison system failed Roseanne".

18. The Commission publicly opposed the transfer of women from Mourne House to Hydebank Wood, despite being very critical of conditions in Mourne. It was clear that moving women from a unit in a high security male prison to a unit located in a male young offenders' centre would not resolve the problems associated with women's imprisonment in Northern Ireland.

19. The Commission has completed research on women's imprisonment in Hydebank Wood which is being prepared for publication. The report will be published at the end of May and we would be most willing to brief the Committee on the research findings.

20. Without pre-empting the publication, our general concerns about conditions for women in Hydebank Wood include the transportation of men and women together in prison vans; routine strip searching (the Commission assisted a female prisoner in taking a successful judicial review of the policy of frequent strip searching); shared visiting area with young men; shared healthcare facilities for women and young men; very limited mental health and other medical services at night-time; limited range of work-related training opportunities; length of time spent in cell; lack of a therapeutic regime for vulnerable, self-harming or suicidal prisoners; limited access to outdoors for those women not involved in the gardening project; and no age-specific regime for girls and young women.

21. As should have been predicted by the Prison Service, the shared environment at Hydebank Wood places severe restrictions on women's freedom of movement. This is especially curtailing for women on long sentences including life prisoners who should be subject to a less restrictive regime.

22. The Commission fully endorses the recommendations of the Inspectorates for the women's unit in Hydebank Wood to be declared a temporary facility, and for a discrete women's prison to be developed.

23. The Commission also supports the Inspectorates' finding that Ash House is not a suitable environment for girls under 18 years of age.

Hydebank Wood Young Offenders' Centre

24. The Commission wishes to highlight some of the key human rights concerns raised in the most recent inspection report (2005). The Commission welcomes the Inspectors' finding that their recommendation for improved systems for managing self-harm and suicide had been fully achieved. However, it is of concern that "Other [recommendations], such as in-cell sanitation, sufficient education and training, and improved time out of cell had not".

25. It is also worrying that the Inspection found that "too many vulnerable young people were routinely placed in stripclothing and special cells as a first response to fears of self-harm", and that Inspectors had "particular concerns about the severity of punishments in the `special supervision' unit (or the `block' as it was routinely called)".

OVERARCHING HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS

Care of self-harming and suicidal prisoners

26. Prisoners who are self-harming and suicidal, or who are vulnerable through mental health problems or other difficulties should be detained in therapeutic regimes comprising a constructive and interaction based programme. Staff in these units should undergo specialised training.

27. Self-harming and suicidal prisoners should not be held in the special supervision unit/punishment cells alongside people adjudicated for disciplinary offences.

Imprisonment of people with serious mental health problems

28. People with serious mental health problems should wherever possible be provided with therapeutic alternatives to prison. This includes people diagnosed as "personality disordered".

29. A coherent and multi-agency strategy should be developed to respond to the needs of offenders diagnosed as mentally ill and "behaviourally" or "personality disordered". There should be the development of community-based therapeutic facilities offering age-appropriate and gender-specific programmes to identify and meet needs.

Transfer of Prison Healthcare

30. The transfer of primary responsibility of prisoner healthcare from the Northern Ireland Prison Service to the Department of Health and Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) from April 2007 provides an opportunity to transform the healthcare of prisoners. People in healthcare centres in prisons should be treated first and foremost as patients. Healthcare staff working in prison healthcare centres should be employed as healthcare professionals and should be separate from prison discipline officers. Following the transfer, all prison healthcare staff should be directly employed by and accountable to the relevant healthcare department/trust.

Isolation

31. The use of punishment cells/special supervision units for disciplinary purposes or for the protection of vulnerable, self-harming prisoners is of concern to the Commission. The experience of isolation can be very damaging for individuals' mental health. The jury at the inquest into the death of Annie Kelly (aged 19) who was found hanged in a punishment cell at Mourne House in 2002, found that Annie's long periods held in isolation contributed to death. It is acknowledged by international human rights bodies that prolonged use of solitary confinement may amount to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment. International human rights standards require the state to minimise or end altogether, the use of solitary confinement:

Efforts addressed for the abolition of solitary confinement as a punishment, or to the restriction of its use, should be undertaken and encouraged. (Principle 7, UN Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners).

32. The Commission urges Government to work towards the restriction or abolition of the use of solitary confinement as a punishment.

33. In the interim, self-harming or suicidal prisoners should not be held in the Special Supervision Unit alongside prisoners held in isolation for disciplinary reasons.

34. Children should never be held in solitary confinement.

In-cell sanitation

35. It is degrading for prisoners to have to use a buzzer to request access to the toilet at night, or to use a "pot". The Commission recommends that in the 21st century it is appropriate that all prisoners have access to in-cell sanitation.

Length of lock-down

36. The inspection of Maghaberry found that prisoners are subject to too lengthy periods of lock-down. Time spent in cell should be restricted and prisoners facilitated in spending as much time out of cell as possible, engaged in constructive activities.

Mothers of babies and young children

37. International human rights standards make special provision for mothers in prison with their babies. The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners state that in women's prisons there should be special accommodation for pre- and post-natal care and treatment (23(1)).[33] Where infants are allowed to stay in prison with their mother there should be a cre"che equipped by fully trained staff where babies will stay when not with their mothers (23(2)).

38. In acknowledgement of the adverse effects of imprisonment of mothers on babies, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly adopted a recommendation that member states should "develop and use community-based penalties for mothers of young children" and should avoid the use of prison custody and should ensure that custody for pregnant women and mothers of young children is a last resort for women who have committed the most serious offences and who "represent a danger to the community".[34]

39. The Council of Europe recommends the development of small scale secure and semi-secure units with social services support for the small number of mothers requiring custody "where children can be cared for in a child-friendly environment and where the best interests of the child will be paramount, whilst guaranteeing public security"; appropriate staff training in child care; flexible visiting rights for fathers; appropriate guidelines for courts.

40. The Commission recommends that for those exceptional cases where a mother is imprisoned with her baby, the age limit up until which babies may live in prison with their mothers should be raised in line with that in other UK jurisdictions and other European states.

41. We have also recommended that the NIPS should provide adequate cre"che and nursery provision for young babies, including links with cre"ches in the community.

42. However, the imprisonment of women with babies should be avoided and we urge the development of education programmes for criminal justice professionals on the issue of mothers, babies and young children.

The rights of children of prisoners

43. The provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) are relevant to all children whose parents or carers are imprisoned. The CRC requires that the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration in all decisions affecting the child (Article 3). States are required to respect the right of children who are separated from one or both parents to "maintain personal relations and direct contact with both parents on a regular basis, except if it is contrary to the child's best interests" (Article 9).

44. This is also underlined in an important "soft law" standard, the UN Body of Principles. The authorities should ensure "assistance when needed to dependent and, in particular, minor members of the families of detained or imprisoned persons" (Principle 31).[35]

45. Each year an estimated 700,000 children within the European Union are separated from an imprisoned parent.[36] Research by the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) found that around 125,000 children in England and Wales are affected by the imprisonment of a parent each year. Children of prisoners are defined as "children in need" in Children's Services Plans, yet there are no available records in Northern Ireland on the numbers of children affected by the imprisonment of a parent. It is reasonable to assume that the overall number of children affected at some point in their childhood by the imprisonment of one or more parent would extend to tens of thousands.

46. Problems associated with having a parent in prison include a sense of loss; lack of knowledge and/or understanding; material deprivation; emotional suffering; unstable and distanced relationships; stigmatisation and labelling; adapting to release and fear of further loss.

47. The Northern Ireland Prison Service and relevant agencies should continue to improve services for children of prisoners.

48. Legislation should be enacted to require judges and magistrates to consider the best interests of any affected children before passing sentence.

Strip searching

49. Strip searching is an inherently degrading process and should also be used only where individual risk assessment indicates it is necessary. The Commission does not accept the distinction made between whole-body strip searching and the NIPS practice of "half and half" searches.

50. In the case of women, strip searching should only be carried out by medically qualified staff. These should not be the same staff responsible for the women's routine healthcare. Children should not be strip searched.

Children and young people in custody

51. Human rights standards state that children's imprisonment shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the minimum period of time. Custody for children must be used only exceptionally and imposed only where a child is found guilty of a serious act involving violence against another person or persistence in committing other serious offences and where there is no other appropriate response. Every effort must also be made to apply alternatives to custody before trial and remanding children to custody must be limited to exceptional circumstances.

52. When children are detained, they must be treated with respect and dignity in an age-appropriate regime. The state must make efforts to provide "semi-institutional" arrangements such as "half-way houses" or day training centres and life inside detention centres should be as close to life in the community as possible. Children in custody should be detained separately from adults unless it is considered in the child's best interests to do otherwise. These principles reflect the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the major relevant soft law instrument, the Beijing Rules.[37]

53. As noted above, there is no age-appropriate regime for girls and young women in Hydebank Wood.

54. The Commission supports the recommendation of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons that children under 18 should not be held in Prison Service custody. Alternative arrangements for under-18-year-old boys and girls should be made by the Youth Justice Agency.

People imprisoned for "fine default"

55. International human rights standards require that in jurisdictions where people can be imprisoned for fine default these prisoners should "not be subjected to any greater restriction or severity than is necessary to ensure safe custody and good order". These prisoners should be held separately from prisoners sentenced for criminal offences (UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, Rule 94). The Commission is particularly concerned about the imprisonment of women for fine default bearing in mind the especially destructive impact of female imprisonment on children and families.

56. The Human Rights Commission calls for an end to all imprisonment for fine default in Northern Ireland. It said this in June 2005, response to the Review of the Sentencing Framework in Northern Ireland, and welcomed the suggestion in that consultation of "a disposal akin to a supervised attendance order in place of custody".

Overcrowding

57. The Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has observed the negative impact of overcrowding in prisons:

58. Overcrowding in prisons in Northern Ireland has not taken place on the same scale as in Great Britain. However, the Commission shares the concerns of the Northern Ireland Prison Service about growing numbers and prisons approaching capacity. Cell sharing is unacceptable except where cells were specifically designed to accommodate more than one prisoner.

59. Human rights standards state that "where sleeping accommodation is in individual cells or rooms, each prisoners shall occupy by night a cell or room by himself. If for special reasons, such as temporary over-crowding, it becomes necessary for the central prison administration to make an exception to this rule, it is not desirable to have two prisoners in a cell or room" (UN Standard Minimum Rules, Rule 9).

60. The Government should take steps to reduce the prison population as far as possible, for example by ending imprisonment for fine default.

Transition within the prison service

61. Northern Ireland is in a transitional situation, coming out of a period of prolonged conflict. Achieving confidence in the criminal justice system is an integral part of successful transition. Following the Criminal Justice Review and the report of the Patten Commission, the Police Service and other elements of the criminal justice system underwent significant change. The Prison Service, however, has not yet undergone such a transition. The Commission acknowledges the violence and trauma suffered by prison officers during the conflict. We do not forget this in urging reflection on how best to equip the Prison Service to deal with imprisonment in the 21st century, including achieving full compliance with international human rights standards.

Monitoring places of detention

62. An international NGO, the Association for the Prevention of Torture, observes that:

63. The implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) provides an important opportunity to ensure that prisons in Northern Ireland, and elsewhere in the UK, are opened up to enhanced monitoring, transparency and accountability. As the APT notes, enhanced monitoring should result in "increasing the legitimacy of the management of the place and the public confidence in the institutions."[40]

64. The major step forward expected in a very few weeks (by 22 June) is the designation of a National Preventative Mechanism (NPM), which under OPCAT may be a single agency or a set of agencies with the ability to conduct independent inspection visits. The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission—as a UN-accredited national human rights institution, as an agency that has contributed extensively to the protection of human rights in prisons, and in the light of the impending extension of its powers to investigate places of detention (in the Justice and Security (NI) Bill)—should be one of the agencies comprising the UK NPM. The Commission is hosting a seminar on implementation of OPCAT on 26 June, marking the tenth UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, and also the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of the UN Convention against Torture. We therefore await with great interest the announcement on the composition and functions of the NPM, and would encourage the Committee to take account of that development and its potential for increasing confidence in the management of the prison system in Northern Ireland.

Ciarán O« Maoláin

Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission

April 2007