The Director of the Northern Ireland Prison Service Robin Masefield has welcomed the announcement today by Prisons’ Minister Paul Goggins that he expects to make a decision before the end of this year on the location of the second adult male prison for Northern Ireland. To help inform his decision the Minister has asked the Prison Service, in consultation with interested parties and stakeholders such as the Treasury, to provide a comprehensive Options Appraisal by the end of the summer.

Mr Masefield said; “As far back as the autumn of 2005 the Prison Service identified that the existing Magilligan Prison needed to be replaced. Our view has been echoed by among others Her Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons, The Criminal Justice Inspectorate for Northern Ireland and the Prisoner Ombudsman. As part of our Strategic Development Programme the Prison Service is looking at possible locations for the replacement prison, including the existing site at Magilligan.

“The Options Appraisal will explore potential sites, examine resource implications and re-examine prison population projections in the light of recent public protection sentencing announcements. Much work has already been carried out in all these areas and it will be a matter of bringing the material together to allow Ministers to make the final decision from as fully informed a position as possible.

“The Prison Service will pull out all the stops to have this exercise completed, as I fully realise that uncertainty places added pressures on staff, especially those based at Magilligan Prison.”

The Director also welcomed yesterday’s announcement by the Secretary of State of plans for a new purpose-built training facility to cater for the needs of the Prison Service, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service.

He said that the decision, which is subject to Treasury approval, “brought closure after a sustained period of doubt about the future provision of training within the Prison Service. While there will be sadness at the closure of our present college at Millisle, this will be tempered by the fact that future generations of prison officers will undoubtedly benefit from specialist and professional training which will be delivered in comfortable, unrivalled facilities.”

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