MCCLELLAND REPORT PUBLISHED
The McClelland Report, an independent review of six non-natural deaths in prison custody in Northern Ireland between June 2002 and March 2004 was published this week.

The review team was chaired by Roy McClelland, Professor of Mental Health at Queen’s University, Belfast.

Director General Robin Masefield, who welcomed the report’s publication, said that some of the recommendations in the report had already been addressed such as the setting up of family care lines in each of the establishments and an increase in the number of safer cell.

“Any death in prison custody, irrespective of the circumstances, is a tragic loss made the worse for families because of their separation. There is also a very deep impact on prisoners and staff in those circumstances.

“Since taking up post, I have made the issue of suicide and self harm a matter of priority and I very much welcome Professor McClelland’s report. It is critical, but it does provide us with a springboard from which we can make further progress,” he added.
http://www.niprisonservice.gov.uk/module.cfm/opt/5/area/Publications/page/publications/archive/false/cid/42

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MAGILLIGAN DRUG AND ALCOHOL PROGRAMMES RE-LAUNCHED
Drug and alcohol programmes at Magilligan Prison were re-launched this week as part of Prison Service’s determination to meet the needs of prisoners.

Programmes now available to prisoners include: Alcohol Management, Drug Education and Awareness and Basic Substance Misuse. Each is externally accredited by the Open College Network and is delivered in partnership by prison officers and Northlands staff working in the prison.

Speaking at the launch of the new programmes Prison Officer Willie McMahon, one of the programme facilitators, said that for some people this was the first time that they had received any type of Certificate:

“We do need to continually update our programmes so that they remain challenging to inmates and that our knowledge of drug and alcohol misuse remains up to date.

“There is an enormous sense of achievement when some-one completes one of these programmes because for many it will be the first time that they have addressed their behaviour and had their achievement recognised.”

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DIRECTOR GENERAL CHAMPIONS CIVIC ROLE OF THE PRISON SERVICE
Director General Robin Masefield has highlighted the civic role played by the Prison Service.

Mr Masefield, speaking to around 140 delegates at a conference held jointly by the NIPS and Butler Trust on January 23, pointed out that the Service’s role had changed substantially in recent years.

“For 30 years, our Service’s energies have inevitably had to sustain a focus on security issues. We were less able to devote attention to what one might call the more compassionate side of the prison business. Increasingly, although it is an uneven journey, we have more chance to do that.

“Our statement of purpose now emphasises that it is our job to protect the public by reducing the risk of re-offending. For every success in this area by those who work in a prison setting, whether officers or psychologists or chaplains or colleagues from probation or volunteers, we share the same objective – reducing the risk of further victims in society. This is an example of the Prison Service playing its part in wider society.

“I believe that our work in reducing re-offending will be materially helped, if we can enable individual offenders not just to understand the impact of their offences on others, but also to appreciate the effect on the wider civic community.”

The function of the conference was to raise awareness of developments within other prison services and establish how the examples of good practice presented might be applied in the Northern Ireland context.

Monday 30 January - Media lunch hosted by the Northern Ireland Prison Service at Stormont House.

Tuesday 31 January - Publication of the revised Compact for separated prisoners.