NI: Increase in women prisoners sparks calls for dedicated prison
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Hydebank Wood College
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New figures revealing that the number of women prisoners in Northern Ireland has reached a five-year high have sparked calls for the establishment of a dedicated women’s prison.
As of this month, there are 84 women prisoners in Northern Ireland, most of them accommodated in Ash House at Hydebank Wood College on a site shared with facilities for young male offenders.
Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland programme director at Amnesty International, told BBC News it is “inappropriate” to house women prisoners at Hydebank.
He said: “The increase in Northern Ireland’s female prison population, and consequent overcrowding in Hydebank Wood, exacerbates a range of existing human rights concerns about the facility.
“It has long been acknowledged that there is a need for a stand-alone, purpose built women’s prison. In 2016, the Criminal Justice Inspectorate noted the inappropriateness of detaining women within a facility for young men.”
Mr Corrigan added: “A society can be judged on how it treats its prisoners. This issue requires long overdue and urgent political attention. In the absence of a devolved justice minister, the Secretary of State should focus on the detention conditions of women imprisoned here.”
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