Opinion

All prisoners being treated with dignity and respect

I WOULD like the opportunity to correct some comments in a recent report on a visit to Maghaberry Prison by members of the Oireachtas. Contrary to views reported in the article (June 17) we are already undertaking a substantial and successful reform programme of the prison service following the detailed report from the Prisons Review Team led by Dame Anne Owers.

Our progress in implementing the recommendations from the Prison Review Team is monitored by a group including the justice and health system inspectorates - and a number of independent members - and progress reports are published regularly and made available to the Assembly Justice Committee.

We recognise concerns remain in relation to full body searching but have not reneged on any deal to end full body searching. What we have done, in line with an agreement reached in August 2010, is end the routine full body searching of prisoners within the separated wing of Maghaberry Prison and trial alternative search technologies. Initial trials found one such technology to be less effective than existing processes and an application to trial a second technology is currently being considered by the Department of Energy and Climate Change. However, the requirement for full body searching on entry to and exit from the prison is, and always has been, necessary in order to preserve the security of the establishment and the safety of other prisoners, staff and the wider community.

Such searches were not included in the agreement of August 2010.

I can assure your readers that prisoners in all facilities are treated with respect and dignity and that none of the many independent reports on Northern Ireland's prisons in recent years have concluded that prisoners are held in anything resembling the "degrading and inhumane conditions" that some members of the Oireachtas alleged.

DAVID FORD

Minister of Justice, Stormont