Conditions for IRA prisoners "worsening"

IRISH republican prisoners in British jails are serving their sentences under "deteriorating conditions", according to a Labour Party delegation which visited them at the weekend.

The delegation, which was made up of TDs Mr Joe Costello, Mr Declan Bree, Mr Tommy Broughan and Senator Sean Moloney, visited prisoners in Full Sutton prison, Yorkshire, Whitemoor prison, Cambridgeshire, and Belmarsh prison, London. They will make a full report to a parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday.

Mr Costello said yesterday many of the prisoners were held in "special secure units", which were prisons within prisons. They had no contact with the general prison population.

"The prisoners told us they are locked up for up to 21 hours a day and are not allowed to participate in any of the normal jail activities such as going to the library, the main gym or playing fields. They have no access to the prison chapel for religious ceremonies, and they have no opportunity to exercise in natural daylight."

The prisoners had also claimed, he said, that the level of strip searching had increased dramatically in recent weeks. They were also frustrated at the ongoing delay in the transfer of prisoners to serve out their term in Irish jails.

An increase in the number of transfers would constitute a significant contribution to the confidence building measures recognised as necessary in both the Mitchell report and the joint communique, said Mr Costello. "A resolution of the prisoner issue is fundamental to the consolidation of the peace process and we are anxious that progress is made on this issue in the coming weeks and months."