Concerns have been raised after claims that a republican inmate was refused permission to attend his brother's funeral over fears for the safety of prison staff .
Eamon Cassidy (52) went to court on Monday after officials said he could not travel to Derry for the funeral of his brother John, also a former republican prisoner.
It is understood that after initially telling him he could attend accompanied by Prison Service staff, authorities later raised concerns about the safety of their personnel and blocked the move.
Cassidy is serving a five-year sentence after he and two other men were found with a pipe bomb in a car in Derry in September 2011.
DNA taken from him was later matched to a sample removed from a 50-kilo bomb left outside Bishop Street courthouse in the city in March that year.
After challenging the decision on Monday, a judge that ruled he could attend his brother’s Requiem Mass at St Eugene’s Cathedral yesterday, but not the wake house or his burial at the nearby City Cemetery.
He was told he would be released from Maghaberry Prison in Co Antrim at 8am into the care of a Derry-based trade unionist and have to return to the jail by 3pm.
However, the Derry man refused to take the prison leave, claiming the conditions were too restrictive.
His solicitor Ruairí Muldoon, of McDermott, McGurk and Partners, said the court found the original refusal of his application for parole was “disproportionate”.
He added: “This man’s right to grieve was recognised, but there was very strict conditions placed on him which made it difficult to avail of the parole.”
Cáit Nic Shonhairle of Cogus, which represents some republican prisoners on Maghaberry’s Roe Three landing, said the decision put "pressure and stress on Eamon and his family at a time when they are grieving for a lost loved one".
In recent days republican prisoners in the jail's Roe Four landing have also been critical of prison chiefs after several inmates were refused compassionate parole to attend religious events involving family members.
A spokesman for the Prison Service said: “We do not comment on individual cases.”
Maghaberry prison officer David Black was killed by the republican group calling itself 'the IRA' as he drove to work on the M1 in November 2012.
