North's prison system 'in need of transformation'

A damning report has called for an overhaul of the North's prison system after finding it is wasting public money and failing to create a safer society.

The prison service that was shaped to deal with the decades of the Troubles has repeatedly been accused of falling short of the needs of the 21st century.

Now a major review, which made 40 recommendations to tackle problems across all areas of prison life, has demanded politicians support a reform process on the scale of that which transformed policing in the North.

The report is likely to spark a multimillion-pound "exit scheme" to retrain and recruit new prison officers, but to also allow 500-600 of the current 1,800-strong staff to leave the service.

But the report also raised concerns over the numbers of people being sent to jail, their treatment in custody, the efforts to cut re-offending, the practice of remand prisoners being held for years before facing trial, healthcare provision, plus the systems in place to return prisoners into the community.

Chair of the review team, Dame Anne Owers, said little had changed since an interim report issued by her team in February, which had described the system as dysfunctional, demoralised and ineffective.

"But in a devolved administration, politicians literally cannot afford to stand over a system which is wasteful of public money and fails to deliver a safer society," she said.

"There will need to be a determined, cross-party approach to driving through the change that is needed.

"This is not a question of incremental change - but of a transformation of culture, approach and working practices, supporting those staff and managers who are seeking and welcome this, and if necessary confronting those who are not prepared to make that journey.

"Though this transformation will take time to complete, there is an urgent need to show that its foundations are securely in place. The next six months will be crucial."

The North's prisons currently hold around 1,770 inmates. Calls for alternatives to custodial sentences, where appropriate, have also been made. There have been concerns, for example, over the number of people jailed for failing to pay fines, which accounts for more than 50% of female admissions to prison.

Justice Minister David Ford unveiled the review findings to members of the Stormont Assembly and appealed for support for fundamental change in the prison system.

He said the findings followed other reports into the prison service that had made similar recommendations.

"Members will appreciate that this report is a far-reaching one that challenges all of us to embrace the urgent need for fundamental reform," he said. "I hope all sides of the House will do so."

The minister said he shared the review team's opinion that the next six months were crucial, adding: "Indeed, this is a watershed for the Prison Service."

Mr Ford said he would be making a series of announcements in the weeks head, including: the unveiling of an exit scheme, the appointment of a Change Programme Team, radical changes to prison healthcare, and a new blueprint for the number and size of prisons through a revised prison Estate Strategy.

Sinn Féin and the SDLP raised concerns over the report's findings on the equality of treatment for prisoners, with disproportionate numbers of Catholics found to be involved in prison disciplinary procedures.

But the DUP raised concerns over the prospect of setting a time limit of remand periods for prisoners, while the party's Maurice Morrow warned that the package should not undermine the prison system or give comfort to law-breakers.

But Mr Ford said: "I think we really need to get our heads around what works in terms of making this society safer. And suggesting that a detailed report ... is somehow to be dismissed as giving comfort to prisoners, I think shows a rather sad lacking of the necessities of this society."

The report recommendations also included calls for:

* The Justice Minister to lead an oversight group to ensure change is implemented;

* The largest prison, Maghaberry in Co Antrim, to be reconfigured into three prison areas to deal with short sentence/remand prisoners and the most high risk inmates;

* Magilligan prison in Co Derry to, ideally, be replaced with a new jail in a more accessible location. Failing that, it should be refurbished;

* Statutory time limits for bringing cases to trial, phased in over three years. This would start in the Youth Court and ultimately, the most serious cases would be allowed longer periods than other cases, to allow evidence to be gathered;

* Continued efforts to review alternatives to full body searches for inmates;

* Better monitoring of the relative treatment of inmates according to their race, religion or ethnic background;

* A new code of ethics and values and new appraisal systems for staff;

* A new focus on prisoner rehabilitation.