Senior DUP member backs calls for prison segregation

A senior member of the Democratic Unionist Party today backed demands for the segregation of loyalist and republican prisoners in a Northern Ireland jail.

Policing Board member Sammy Wilson accused the British government of adopting “a head in the clouds attitude” to the problems of integrating paramilitary prisoners.

He also insisted that the segregation of prisoners could be achieved at the high security Maghaberry Jail in Co Antrim without surrendering control of wings to paramilitary groups.

The East Belfast DUP councillor said: “The Government must end its head in the clouds attitude to a potentially dangerous situation in the prisons.

“I have spoken to prison officers and to prisoners’ families and I cannot see why you cannot have segregation while keeping the jail under the control of the prison authorities.

“Obviously there were bad experiences in the past which saw paramilitary groups control prison wings but I suspect that was because of a decision by the Northern Ireland Office not to disrupt the paramilitary command structures in the prisons just to keep the paramilitary groups sweet.

“You can have segregation while at the same time also making it clear to paramilitary groups that if they breach any rules and try to impose their own law, they will be subject to sanctions.”

Mr Wilson was commenting as a British government-appointed review team continued to examine safety at Maghaberry Prison, which has seen several rooftop protests in recent months.

Dissident republicans have also staged a dirty protest in the jail, smearing excrement on their cells, and have warned that the dispute could escalate with a hunger strike similar to the one which saw 10 IRA and INLA inmates die in 1981.

The prison review team is headed by John Steele, a former head of the Northern Ireland Prison Service from 1987 to 1992.

He is being assisted by Church of Ireland Canon Barry Dodds, a former prison chaplain, and Fr Kevin Donaghy, a former Catholic chaplain at the Maze Prison.

Sinn Féin has backed the prisoners’ demands for segregation at Maghaberry.

However, the cross-community Alliance Party in Northern Ireland has opposed the idea of putting republican and loyalist inmates in separate wings.

Mr Wilson said today he believed segregation made sense, given that certain categories of prisoners were already held separately in jails.

“The fact is that segregation operates inside jails and also on the outside in society,” the former DUP Assembly member argued.

“These prisoners come from communities which are predominantly loyalist or nationalist.

“The fact is that the Government is building more walls to keep communities in flashpoint areas from taking part in disturbances, and these keep loyalist and nationalist communities apart.

“You also have the situation inside the prisons where sex offenders are kept apart from other prisoners.

“I have no doubt that the policy of integration in the jails is a political decision.

“But you can see the impact that it is having on those working inside the prisons if you just take a look at the number of prison officers who are on sick leave.

“They are the victims of stress building up on the job and their absence creates further pressure on colleagues.

“I know from talking to the families of prisoners as well that they accept that they have done wrong, they know that they have got a just sentence and they are willing to serve time.

“But they feel that it makes a lot more sense and is a lot safer for them and staff to serve those sentences in separate wings.”