The building of a new Magilligan Prison at a cost of around £200m (€222.5m) moved a step closer today with the appointment of consultants to manage the design and building programme.

Prison officers in the North are to be subjected to random searches by sniffer dogs as part of tough new measures to clamp down on the trafficking of drugs in jails, it was revealed today.

Female inmates in the North are losing out hand-over-fist because of the prison service’s “sticking plaster” approach to modernising jails, a committee of MPs has heard.

More than 100 custody officers begin work today as part of new arrangements for escorting prisoners to and from courts in the North.

Up to 90% of the North's prisoners have mental health or other personality disorders, the head of the Prison Service said today.

A security alert today failed to disrupt celebrations granting the Freedom of the City of Lisburn to the Northern Ireland Prison Service.

Magilligan Prison in Co Derry is to be replaced with a new jail, it was confirmed today.

Catholics were urged today to apply for 40 new jobs within the Northern Ireland Prison Service.

A blueprint for the future of the Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS) is to be drawn up, it was announced today.

The Northern Ireland Prison Service was heavily censured today in an official report on how treats women in custody.