Loyalists in alliance over prison conditions
Rival loyalist paramilitary representatives have forged a new alliance over conditions inside a high security Northern Ireland jail, it emerged tonight.
Groups working for Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Volunteer Force men held in segregated blocks at Maghaberry, near Lisburn, Co Antrim, joined forces in a bid to put pressure on the authorities.
Non-violent tactics which could involve legal action, mass road blocks and other protests are believed to be under consideration.
With loyalists traditionally suspicious of each other, sources insisted the UDA-linked Prisoners Aid Networking Group meeting with the UVF-aligned Post Conflict Prisoners Support Group was extremely significant.
The talks at an undisclosed location in west Belfast centred on loyalist anger at excessive strip searches they allege inmates separated under a £7m (€10.5m) security programme at Maghaberry are enduring.
The British government agreed to put loyalists and republicans in different cell blocks amid major safety fears as both sides protested for change.
But a joint statement issued tonight declared: “The Prisoners Aid Networking Group for Northern Ireland and the Post Conflict Prisoners Support Group, who represent loyalist prisoners on the separated conditions, met today to discuss the worsening conditions inside Maghaberry Prison.
“Both groups agreed to embark on a joint peaceful strategy to highlight and achieve a humane regime based on equality inside the prison.”
Prison authorities have stressed that body searches conducted inside the jail are a necessary part of maintaining security.
But the loyalists, who campaigned hard to be kept apart from republicans during a period of intimidation which involved bomb attacks on prison officers’ homes, claim they are not getting a fair deal.
“Strip searches and the conditions that separated prisoners are experiencing are inhumane. It’s wrong and a breech of both human rights and equality legislation,” a loyalist source said.
“Both groups will be meeting regularly to develop their strategy and it’s significant that the loyalist working class community has united to address these issues.”
