Harsh regulations lead to protest
BY Connla Young
30/06/2006
All republican prisoners in Maghaberry are refusing to eat meals in their cells as a protest picks up against prison regulations.
An estimated 18 protesting republican prisoners refused to eat meals in their cells earlier this week as part of a campaign for better conditions in the Co Antrim prison.
It is understood that the remainder of republican inmates in the prison’s Roe House section, refused to eat meals in their cells on Wednesday.
In a statement issued last night, republican prisoners aligned to the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association, called for an end to controlled movement within the jail.
“No Northern Ireland Prison Service personnel have been injured, intimidated, threatened or attacked since we moved to Roe House on Sunday, March 7, 2004. Yet we are forced to endure punitive and draconian measures by which it takes five prison officers to move three prisoners, yet it only takes one prison officer to move two prisoners to the legal visits and back again.
“It also only takes two prison officers to supervise 16 prisoners in the gym and two prison officers to supervise 12 prisoners on the astroturf pitch.
“It has been left to those most opposed to the Steele report to implement its measures,” the prisoners said.
John Steele, a former head of the Northern Ireland Prison Service, carried out a review of safety at Maghaberry. In September 2003, the British government formally accepted his report’s recommendations.
The statement said the prison authorities were wasting cash on implementing unnecessary measures.
“We have to eat all of our meals in our cells, which is degrading, unhygienic and unacceptable as there is a toilet within five feet and a sink for washing our person that’s also used for dishes.
“We also have to endure constant strip searches, which are often carried out in a degrading manner.
“On certain days of the week, we can be locked up for as long as 26-and-a-half hours at a time.
“The effects of excessive lockups is detrimental to long-term prisoners’ mental wellbeing. We therefore call on the NIPS and the Northern Ireland Office to address these issues before we have a situation that escalates into further turmoil,” the statement said.
A prison service spokesperson said: “The government and the Northern Ireland Prison Service strive to achieve a progressive prison environment. The changes for separated prisoners strike an important balance between the desire to move forward whilst still holding to the principles of safety, security and good order that underlie the regime.”
