Big rise in number of complaints made by NI prisoners

Some 408 individual complaints were made by inmates at the Province’s three jails to the prisoner ombudsman for Northern Ireland between April 2018 and March 2019.

The ombudsman’s annual report records that this represents a 74% increase on the previous year when 234 complaints were received.

The most common topics of complaint included attitude of staff (50), accommodation (23), and property and cash (15).

Among examples of complaints given in the report included a male prisoner who said staff had taken and destroyed his training shoes. The complaint was upheld and the prisoner compensated for the cost of the shoes.

In another case, a male prisoner complained that he had received his daily newspapers a day late on three occasions. The complaint was partially upheld, and the ombudsman recommended that the processing of newspapers be prioritised.

But the Prison Service rejected this saying the senior management team currently endeavour to ensure that all facilities are maintained, adding that all prisoners have access to television and radios to keep up with current affairs.

More than half of the complaints came from integrated prisoners and the others were complaints from separated prisoners on Roe 3 and 4 landings at Maghaberry Prison.

Following the investigation of these complaints, 140 recommendations were made for improvement. As the report was written, 89% had been accepted by the Prison Service.

The ombudsman’s office also commenced eight investigations into deaths in custody, which concerned three prisoners at Magilligan in Co Londonderry and five at Maghaberry in Co Antrim. Six of these investigations were completed and five reports published.

Thirty-five recommendations for improvements were made in four of the reports. Thirty-one of these recommendations were accepted by the Prison Service and the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust.