Prisons

A new mentoring service aimed at helping to resettle people in the community after their release from custody has been established by the Probation Board for Northern Ireland and NIACRO.

Only limited progress has been made in improving the safety of prisoners in Northern Ireland over the past five years, according to a new report. Brendan McGuigan, the outgoing chief inspector of criminal justice in Northern Ireland, said he was "frustrated" by the pace of progress in implementing r

A former “protection prisoner” who was held in a cell with other prisoners without sanitation or running water for up to 23 hours a day has been awarded €7,500 in the Supreme Court. Emphasising that the case was fact-specific and that the award should not be seen as establishing a &

Young offenders at Hydebank Wood College have been invited to take part in a new boxing work-out programme aimed at improving their fitness and mental health. Boxing champions Paddy Barnes, Marc McCullough and Carly McNaul visited the facility to launch the new six-week, non-contact boxing course fo

Inmates at Mountjoy Prison are helping to raise money for a homelessness charity through an album of Christmas songs. The "Jingle Jangle" album, to be launched at a fundraising concert in the prison tomorrow, is a collaboration between the SOLAS Workplace Choir and the Mountjoy Prison Inhouse Voices

The Northern Ireland Prison Service has launched a new strategy for strengthening prisoners' family relationships to support the rehabilitation process. Director general Ronnie Armour launched the Strengthening Family Relations Strategy as he attended the official opening of the "Big Visit" area at

Staff Maghaberry Prison have received an Excellence Award from the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA) at their annual conference in Buenos Aires. The award is in recognition of “outstanding programmes which contribute to the safe reintegration of offenders into the commun

The Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS) has launched a consultation on moving to smoke-free prisons. The consultation, which runs until the end of November, follows the successful implementation of smoke-free prisons in Scottish, English and Isle of Mann prisons in recent years.

A new £54 million accommodation block at Maghaberry Prison has been officially opened. Davis House is the largest capital build undertaken by the Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS) in over 30 years and the largest within the Department of Justice since its establishment in 2010.

Maghaberry Prison has become the first in the country to allow visits by autistic children, under a pioneering new initiative. A specially adapted crèche with sensory toys and apparatus has been installed to allow autistic children to visit their incarcerated fathers in a bid to improve rehab

Prisoners at Magilligan with ambitions to one-day work in the construction industry have taken part in the first ever Skillbuild NI competition in a UK prison. The Northern Ireland Prison Service, in partnership with the North West Regional College and Skillbuild NI, hosted the competition for priso

Almost half of the young people detained at Oberstown in the first three months of the year had previous remand or detention orders, new figures show. There were 75 young people – 72 men and three women – detained in Oberstown Children Detention Campus during the first quarter of 2019, w

The average daily prison population in Northern Ireland rose slightly to 1,448 during 2018/19, according to new figures. The male population increased to 1,384 and the female population increased to 65, representing an overall increase of 0.6 per cent.

Nearly one in two people released from Irish prisons in 2012 were convicted of another offence within three years, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The rate of recidivism for prisoners released during 2012 was 45.8 per cent, down from 48.9 per cent in 2011 and conti

Sex offenders in prison will be invited to take part in a treatment programme without admitting or talking about their crime under new Irish Prison Service (IPS) plans, according to reports. The prison service is seeking funding to establish a new programme inspired by the Canadian "Rockwood program