NI: Blanket ban on terrorism and paramilitary books in prison lifted
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Ronnie Armour
The Northern Ireland Prison Service has changed its policy on which books can be taken into jails.
A review was ordered by the Director General Ronnie Armour after it emerged that inmates at Maghaberry Prison could not access a book on dissident republicanism.
Mr Armour met with the book’s author Dr Marisa McGlinchey, to explain the new guidelines.
No books on terrorism or paramilitaries were allowed into the jail before the case arose.
A review found the policy was “not proportionate”.
Books will, from now on, be admitted to the prison “unless they breach specific guidelines which include the promotion of, or support for terrorism/paramilitaries, or overtly promote or encourage the commission of criminal acts”.
The prison service accepted the ban was inappropriate and said it was a “changing organisation and learning organisation”.
The Department of Justice said new operating procedures were now in place.
“Books and other reading material will now be permitted unless they overtly promote or encourage the commissioning of criminal acts or otherwise break the law,” the department told BBC News NI.
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