Like Long Kesh before it, Maghaberry Prison is built on the site of an old World War II base outside Lisburn in County Antrim. Since the closure of Long Kesh and Crumlin Road gaol in Belfast, Maghaberry is now the major prison within the Six Counties. However, the similarities between Maghaberry and the prisons it replaced extend far beyond its location.
As was the case with Long Kesh and Crumlin Road gaol, Maghaberry has gained a reputation of notoriety based upon the ill-treatment of prisoners by a prison regime which is proving to be both unaccountable and incapable of reform - a fact borne out by a recent British government sponsored report published in July 2009 into conditions in the prison based upon a five day unannounced inspection conducted earlier this year. Indeed, the report slammed conditions within Maghaberry saying they are so bad that the safety of inmates is at risk.
The contents of that report vindicates claims made by Republican prisoners and their families that the prison regime is extremely oppressive and built around the same type of brutal treatment and sectarian influences that were the previous, well-publicised hall-marks of both Long Kesh and Crumlin Road.
Furthermore, the report points out that of 155 recommendations made as a result of a similar, previous unannounced inspection in 2006, only 44 (28%) had been achieved and 28 (18%) had only been partially acted upon three years later. A total of 83 recommendations (54%) had been completely ignored. Acknowledging that conditions in the prison had deteriorated since the 2006 inspection, the report’s authors have now made public 124 new recommendations and 76 repeat recommendations regarding the prison – 200 recommendations in all.
Search and Standby Team (SST)
A number of the recommendations relate directly to the so-called Search and Standby Team (SST) which has been used with unremitting regularity against Republican prisoners in Maghaberry. The previous 2006 report referred to the "militaristic" nature of the SST. The report cuts through the propaganda of the British government and the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) and, in recommendation HP 42, it is quite candid and direct with regards what should happen to this notorious unit, well-known for their brutality against and assaults upon Republican prisoners – "The search and standby team should be disbanded."
The report states that the SST has a disproportionate presence and influence in the prison and that there were a high number of serious allegations of assault and threatening behaviour involving the SST that have not been answered and most of which needed further investigation.
It also found that the SST has the unrestricted ability to control the entire prison and to dictate conditions throughout. This ability of the SST was found to be responsible for the restrictions on movement, a favourite tactic which the prison regime primarily directs against Republicans.
These restrictions include the regular use of strip-searches of prisoners – designed to humiliate prisoners as well as being used as an opportunity by prison staff to carry out assaults at a time when they believe prisoners to be at their most vulnerable. In 2007, the Human Rights Commission described the practice of strip-searches as "an inherently degrading process".
The highly restricted system of "controlled movement" in Maghaberry means that only three prisoners are allowed out at any one time, with no less than five prison staff present. Prisoners could be searched up to three times when covering a very short distance of just a few yards, while still in full view of staff at all times. This practice of deliberate harassment, said the report’s authors, "continued in spite of the fact that we were told that instructions had been issued by HQ to prevent this".
Independent Monitoring Board (IMB)
The report also exposes the ineffective and toothless nature of the NIO’s so-called Independent Monitoring Board (formerly known as the Board of Visitors) whose members are supposed "to act as independent observers of all aspects of the prison regime" and, who according to the NIO "have free access at all times to the prison to which they are appointed".
The report also states that IMB members "faced some unacceptable restrictions on access" and that "they were also prevented from observing when the Search and Standby Team was carrying out searches".
Questions must be asked as to why the so-called Independent Monitoring Board has never publicly criticised the role or actions of the Search and Standby Team, nor highlighted its "disproportionate presence and influence in the prison" or mentioned the "high number of serious allegations of assault and threatening behaviour involving the SST" in its own annual reports.
In the absence of any other logical reason, the IMB’s existence appears to be one designed to give cover to the British government and NIO in their operation of an extremely oppressive, brutal and inhumane regime within Maghaberry.
Roe House
Roe House, the accommodation unit within the prison where Republican prisoners are mainly held, also came in for direct criticism. Although the cells were designed to accommodate one prisoner, many cells were found to each house two men in conditions described as "unhealthy", "too cramped" and "overcrowded".
Other findings in the report show that "the lack of activity places to keep men purposefully engaged led to many men spending most of their days locked up" and that opportunities for education or training "was wholly inadequate"
As has proven to be the case for a number of Republican prisoners who were held in Long Kesh and Crumlin Road, such oppressive conditions can lead to prisoners developing mental health problems. Despite this fact, the report states that "mental health services were minimal".
This point was underscored in a separate report also published earlier this year into the death of a civilian inmate of Maghaberry who took his own life. The former Maghaberry governor, Alan Longwell, and his deputy, Steve Davis, were removed from their posts after the damning report when it emerged that prison staff who were supposed to be monitoring the prisoner, who was deemed to at high risk of self harm, were lying on beds watching TV. Another report compiled at the same time, revealed that many prison staff were under the influence of alcohol while on duty – a practice which is still ongoing.
Same Old Regime
It is clear that the Prison Service in the North has replicated in Maghaberry the same, inhumane, cruel and tyrannical regime that operated in Long Kesh and Crumlin Road. It is also clear that Stormont politicians, some of whom are former prisoners representing nationalist communities, are themselves living in denial if they believe that the prison system has changed and that major transformation is not essential.
Another report, this time by the European Committee on the Prevention of Torture (ECPT) which visited Maghaberry at the end of 2008, is also due to be published shortly. It is widely accepted that this forthcoming report will contain many trenchant criticisms regarding the conditions which the ECPT found during their visit.
With the Equality Commission in the Six Counties finding that less than 9% of uniformed prison officers are drawn from a Catholic background, the dominant and inherent ethos within the prison staff of over 1,000 based in Maghaberry, primarily recruited from within the unionist/loyalist community and former British military personnel, has not changed from that of Long Kesh and Crumlin Road.
H Blocks Long Kesh
A tyrannical regime based around the brutality and ill-treatment of prisoners and driven by sectarian influences, Maghaberry represents the same type of mentality prevalent in those notorious former prisons. It was unacceptable in the past - it must be unacceptable now.
Also unacceptable was the response of the British government, through Prisons Minister Paul Goggins, who voiced "disappointment" to this most recent report.
He should not be disappointed at the findings; he and his government should be thoroughly ashamed.
Colin's family call on all Republicans to organise and oppose this brutal regime in Maghaberry. Also, we call on everyone to show solidarity with the prisoners and the families of all political prisoners.
The demand for the granting of full political status for all political prisoners needs to be heard loud and clear.
Crumlin Rd Gaol