Magilligan prison to be replaced
Magilligan Prison in Co Derry is to be replaced with a new jail, it was confirmed today.
Prison Service chief Robin Masefield said a fundamental review being undertaken would “confirm the unsuitability of the existing prison”, due in part to its design and the current condition of its fabric.
He said the key question was whether the replacement should be built on the existing site outside Limavady or elsewhere.
An independent Treasury report suggested somewhere in the Ballymena, Co Antrim, area could be suitable.
Mr Masefield insisted no decision on location had been made, but said the existing site had its problems.
“Magilligan is somewhat isolated in terms of its relationship with the rest of the Prison Service. Also, it is difficult for families to visit inmates, it’s difficult for us sometimes to do the work we want to do with prisoners, it’s difficult for them perhaps to pursue the resettlement agenda,” he said.
Site availability would be one of the issues to be decided and, said Mr Masefield, if an alternative site was selected that was not too far away he hoped prison staff would be able to keep their roots and families in the north-west and travel to work.
“That is very much part of the socio-economic impact study that we have taken forward,” he said.
He confirmed the service was looking at the scope of possible private sector involvement in a new prison.
He would be working with the Treasury to see if the Private Finance Initiative approach “which has been used increasingly in hospitals and schools and big projects of this nature” would be suitable.
The Prison Office Association chief, Finlay Spratt, said the service should spend money on upgrading the existing 30-year-old jail, not building a new facility.
“In my opinion it is just a waste of public money,” he said, and accused the Northern Ireland Office of being “hell bent on centralisation and taking things away from the north-west”.
If the Prison Service came down on the side of the Ballymena option, “look at the public money that is going to take”, said Mr Spratt.
He added: “Would they not be better spending that public money on a new hospital for Tyrone? It’s bureaucracy gone mad. People just decide to spend public money because somebody has a preference when they already have a good facility.”
