Written evidence from the Prisoner Ombudsman
for Northern Ireland
I welcome this opportunity as Prisoner Ombudsman
for Northern Ireland to comment upon the terms of reference which
form the basis for the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee inquiry
into the Northern Ireland Prison Service.
A. PRISON ESTATE
IN NORTHERN
IRELAND
HMP Magilligan
It is widely recognised that the structure and
layout of buildings at Magilligan Prison are generally unfit for
purpose. The buildings are ageing (opened 1972) and are spread
over a large area.
For example the Prison Healthcare building is
particularly unsuited to modern provision of healthcare. This
unit provides mostly primary care but houses a small number of
inpatients. The unsuitability of this building has been brought
into stark focus recently with the detection of legionella bacterium
in the water supply. I am currently conducting a joint investigation
with the NI Health and Safety Executive into a related prisoner
death. I am advised that significant new investment is planned
for this building. Whilst much needed this raises the question
of whether it constitutes a good use of public funds to continue
to make such ad hoc improvements however necessary to the existing
estate. I think not, but would prefer a strategic approach to
capital replacement with committed timescales.
Prisoner Accommodation
The unfitness of prisoner accommodation is well
established and I concur with HM Inspectorate and the Chief Inspector
of Criminal Justice that the H blocks need to be replaced urgently,
with integral sanitation.
It is worrying that there is continuing uncertainty
about replacement funding being identified for Magilligan Prison.
The need for an early decision on this is rendered more acute
by the pressures arising from the increase in the prisoner population.
The Prison population has increased by around 9.5% over the last
five years. The response of the Prison Service to put in place
prefabricated temporary units whilst understandable also raises
the issue of ad hoc measures as against strategic capital planning.
Location
It is important that decisions on the future
location for Magilligan Prison should be driven by the Prison
Service strategic Objectives. Considerations of the impact upon
the local economy or even upon security of employment for the
workforce however important must be secondary considerations as
determinants of future location.
One of the key objectives for any Prison Service
must be to prepare prisoners for reintegration to their community.
Central to this is the maintenance of contact between prisoners
and their families. The location of Magilligan Prison does not
for many prisoners lend itself to achieving this. The burden upon
families is considerable. Furthermore the opportunities for prisoners
to prepare for employment is limited by the present location for
many prisoners.
The establishment of a project team by the Prison
Service to develop a new estate strategy as part of the Services
"Blueprint for Future Development" is welcomed. What
concerns me is the issue of how long the process for replacing
Magilligan may be. On a recent visit to the Irish Prison Service
I was left with the impression that the authorities in that jurisdiction
had found ways to move much faster in planning and effecting recent
prison replacement.
As Prisoner Ombudsman I do not function as an
advocate for prisoners and my concerns about Magilligan Prison
are derived from a recognition of the complex and challenging
task which is set for the Service and its staff as well as from
the needs of prisoners.
Hydebank Wood Prison
The principal issue of concern with regard to
the prison estate here is the location of the women's prison accommodation
within a predominantly male Young Offender Centre. This impacts
adversely upon the efforts of the Prison Service to deliver the
Healthy Prison criteria aimed for.
In addition the design of the women prisoners'
accommodation is so influenced by traditional thinking around
security and containment that much of the effort put into resettlement
activity is at risk of being negated. I have been most impressed
by the Dochas Centre (Dublin) which houses many of Ireland's female
prisoners. The design of this centre where security considerations
are much less visible facilitates the progressive prisoner regimes
which I believe our Prison Service would like to achieve. The
legitimate needs for safety and security have not been compromised
at Dochas.
I acknowledge that the small size of our female
prisoner population poses special problems for costs through diseconomies
of scale but this needs to be weighed against the impact upon
families and ultimately society as well as the prisoners themselves
of continuing to utilise repressive buildings.
B. PRISON HEALTHCARE
IN NORTHERN
IRELAND
I strongly support the recent transfer (April
2007) of prison healthcare provision to Health Service commissioners
and providers. It is much too soon to say what specific improvements
this will bring or how soon they will be realised.
The principle of achieving equivalence of healthcare
in prisons with that available in the community is established.
In fact it can be argued that because prisoners necessarily lose
autonomy by virtue of their new incarcerated status the duty of
care of the Prison Service (rather than achieving equivalence)
is often enhanced.
I have been concerned about the inability of
the Prison Service to respond appropriately to the mental health
needs of prisoners and to the needs of prisoners with some chronic
physical ailments. An overriding concern has been with the absence
of a proper Prison Service Clinical Governance Structure for the
delivery of prison healthcare. The recent transfer to the Health
Service if anything increases the urgency of establishing robust
clinical governance and accelerating the efforts to do so already
made by the Prison Service. There is now shared responsibility
for delivery of healthcare between the Prison Service and the
Health Service and experience has shown that in such shared situations
risk management and good governance assume much greater importance.
The Prison Service has for the most part no
choice about its service users and has a typical over-representation
of poor health generally among the prisoner population. Prisoner
healthcare is something we can often do something to improve during
incarceration and I am strongly supportive of increased investment
in this area.
A particular concern in prisoner healthcare
arises from the high numbers of prisoners who exhibit behaviours
suggestive of personality disorders as opposed to psychiatric
illness. The Prison Service needs greater help with such prisoners
in the form of enhanced therapeutic facilities and programmes.
The initiatives recently taken, eg Maghaberry Prisons efforts
to intensify support to poor coping prisoners, are welcome but
need to be enhanced.
Prison Healthcare—a speciality
In addition to their poorer overall health profile
prisoners present differently to the normal population for their
healthcare needs. This phenomena taken together among other things
with the unique culture and environment which constitutes incarceration
requires all prison healthcare staff to be specially trained.
This may be difficult to achieve in the short term but such "forensic"
training should be energetically promoted.
Prison staff on the ground have expressed concern
about the adequacy of their training for managing prisoners with
personality disorders or mental health needs. The complex mix
of custodian and carer roles requires substantial investment in
training.
C. THE GENERAL
OPERATION OF
THE NI PRISON
SERVICE
My work as a recently appointed Prisoner Ombudsman
allows me only to slowly build a picture of the Prison Service
deriving from the learning inherent in complaints upon which I
have made findings. The hugely challenging role required of the
Prison Service is very clear to me. The service has been described
correctly as being in transition. This specific transition is
influenced by the wider societal transition through which Northern
Ireland is now moving. Other parts of the local Criminal Justice
System have been subjected to much more intensive overall scrutiny
and consequently their transition has been expedited. The biggest
part of the transition for the Prison Service, simply put, is
from a dominant security and containment culture to one where
the emphasis moves to a more balanced culture incorporating reintegrating
programmes. This shift implies enhanced roles for all prison staff
including greater engagement with prisoners. The existence of
Separated Prisoner status undoubtedly diverts resources from a
more progressive general regime. It also risks entrenchment of
the old dominant prison culture. For this reason, however intractable
the problem, undiminished efforts must be made to achieve normalisation
in our prisoner status.
There is an opportunity now in preparation for
devolution of criminal justice to review the type of Prison Service
Northern Ireland needs and wants for the future. The all too common
mixture of public and media antipathy, hostility and ignorance
concerning what goes on within prisons can mean that they struggle
for proper recognition, support, policy and practice development
and funding. The considerable strategic efforts of the current
Director General and his staff could be built upon with the help
of an expert independent review.
The cost per prisoner place in Northern Ireland
is over twice the cost in Great Britain. It seems to be unreasonable
to expect efficiency gains whilst the Prison Service is expected
to operate in inefficient estate and to cope with the need for
major cultural change. A strategic approach to efficiency gains
is needed as opposed to arbitrarily imposed savings requirements.
D. EDUCATION
AND TRAINING
NEEDS
I am less well informed in these areas but have
become aware of the development of a range of resettlement and
reintegration focussed opportunities for prisoners.
The absence of an overall Personal Officer Scheme
for prisoners in Northern Ireland Prisons is not conducive to
the development of a holistic approach to prisoner resettlement
planning including education and training.
When I have referred earlier to cultural transition
within the Prison Service it should be axiomatic that the provision
of appropriate education and training is best facilitated by a
culture which gives emphasis to re-integrative objectives. The
same is true with regard to the negative impact of poor estate
such as at Magilligan and Hydebank Prisons.
Education and training for prisoners is crucial
to efforts at addressing re-offending and in maintaining a positive
culture for prisoners and staff alike.
SUMMARY
I have sought to address the Committees terms
of reference by focusing mainly upon the Magilligan Prison estate
and the needs of women prisoners. Maghaberry Prison although relatively
new, also suffers in some parts from cramped conditions eg the
Vulnerable Prisoners Unit but must be a lower priority than Magilligan
and Hydebank needs but is clearly unfit for purpose.
The provision of prison healthcare in Northern
Ireland has had the appearance of a long struggle to achieve and
to maintain equivalence of care with the community. Some excellent
work has been and is being done but the fruits of the transfer
to the Health Service have yet to be seen. The care for prisoners
with mental health and personality disorders requires substantial
new investment.
Finally may I, with suitable humility I hope,
suggest that my own role should without delay be placed on a proper
statutory footing to secure the independent powers of my Office.
I provide a unique day to day scrutiny of the NI Prison Service
which affords the opportunity for organisational learning through
identification of service failures. My support from the Director
General and his staff is welcome but my Office should not continue
to be reliant upon goodwill but should be empowered in Statute.
The management of complaints is described in the Review of the
Criminal Justice System in Northern Ireland 2000, as an essential
part of effective accountability mechanisms.
I would welcome the opportunity to meet the
Committee to expand upon my comments in the course of its inquiry.
I wish you well in your endeavours.
Brian Coulter
Prisoner Ombudsman for Northern Ireland
24 April 2007
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