Prison inspectors find costs at Maghaberry are uneconomic

Non-paramilitary inmates at Maghaberry Prison are disadvantaged because of the huge costs of segregating republican from loyalist inmates in the prison, according to a new official report.

It now costs around £86,000 (€125,380) to annually house each prisoner in Northern Ireland and the cost in Maghaberry is even higher. This is more than twice the cost of maintaining inmates at the highest security prisons in England and Wales.

These are the findings from a joint inspection of Maghaberry by the British chief inspectors of prisons and criminal justice. They did not question the policy of separation but noted how it had been costly in "terms of money and level of service to prisoners".

At the time of inspection in October 2005, Maghaberry housed 748 prisoners, comprising 404 on remand and 344 sentenced prisoners, of whom 127 were serving life sentences.

There were 48 separated loyalist prisoners held in Bush House and 34 separated republican prisoners held in Roe House.

Some LVF prisoners, who for safety reasons cannot associate with UVF prisoners, are housed in the integrated section of Maghaberry.

The report found the number of prison officers required to staff the separated accommodation meant "other prisoners were more likely to be confined to their cells for longer periods of time and had less chance to benefit from recreational and educational opportunities".

"Maghaberry is a complex, maximum security prison which is costly to maintain and resource," said Kit Chivers, chief inspector of criminal justice in Northern Ireland.

"Yet this degree of security is not necessary for many prisoners, such as fine defaulters and other short-term prisoners. If other accommodation existed, the needs of these prisoners could be catered for more economically and more effectively in a less secure facility. This is a problem of having a small prison estate," he added.