Maghaberry Prison had serious drug problem and few men in work, inspectors found in 2023

Maghaberry Prison had a serious drug problem and no effective strategy to tackle it, according to a joint inspection report published in June 2023.

Inspectors visited the high-security prison near Lisburn between 20 September and 6 October 2022. The inspection team came from Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJINI), HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP), the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority and the Education and Training Inspectorate.

The report’s foreword carried the names of Jacqui Durkin, Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland, and Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons. “This was a disappointing inspection compared to our visit in 2018,” they wrote.

Drugs and deaths in custody

“Maghaberry has a serious drug problem and there was no effective strategy to address it,” the chief inspectors wrote. Too many prisoners said drugs were easy to get, and that they had developed a drug problem in the prison. Prisoners faced long delays for clinical substance misuse treatment.

Leaders had decided to reduce drug testing and to stop adjudications, the prison’s disciplinary hearings. The chief inspectors called those decisions puzzling at best, given known problems with supply and demand. They said leaders should review them.

The chief inspectors were also worried about the response to deaths in custody. After a death, leaders waited for the Prisoner Ombudsman’s and Coroner’s reports before acting. They did not carry out their own immediate investigation or put interim safety measures in place. The report said leaders should address this urgently.

Oversight of prisoners on Supporting Prisoners At Risk plans, which support those at risk of self-harm, was weak. Leaders had not handled all serious safeguarding incidents in line with Northern Ireland Prison Service policy.

Maghaberry has a serious drug problem and there was no effective strategy to address it.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons report

How inspectors graded the prison

Inspectors judge the prison against four healthy prison tests: safety, respect, purposeful activity and rehabilitation and release planning. Purposeful activity covers education, work and time out of cell.

Maghaberry scored not sufficiently good for safety and reasonably good for respect. It scored poor, the lowest grade, for purposeful activity. Rehabilitation and release planning scored not sufficiently good.

That last grade marked an unusual two-point fall. Inspectors had rated release planning good in 2018. Staff shortages in the Prisoner Development Unit meant many prisoners had no sentence plan, and many left prison without adequate plans. Fewer men completed accredited programmes. Inspectors praised good work with indeterminate and life-sentenced prisoners, however.

Inspectors raised 12 concerns, five of them priorities.

Bored prisoners and poor induction

Maghaberry held 1,050 men at the time of the inspection, including remand prisoners and men serving anything from a few weeks to life. Two small wings held Loyalist and Republican prisoners apart from the main population.

Most prisoners spent longer out of their cells than in other prisons, but many felt frustrated and bored. Education, skills and work had shrunk considerably. In inspectors’ checks, only 15.5% of prisoners were off the wing. Waiting lists for key courses such as literacy and information technology were long. Meanwhile, underused teachers often worked with small groups or single prisoners. Staff shortages led to cancelled sessions, no gym at weekends and poor library access.

Conditions for new arrivals were poor. On Bann House, the induction unit, cells were small and dilapidated, with ageing furniture covered in graffiti. Many held two men though built for one. Prisoners there spent up to 22.5 hours a day locked up, and on average just 90 minutes out of cell.

The new Davis House offered much better accommodation, with toilets, showers and telephones in cells.

Relationships, health and what came next

Generally good relations between staff and a largely compliant population sustained the prison. However, evidence from several sources showed that some Catholic prisoners had experienced prejudice from some staff. Officers were reluctant to report poor behaviour by colleagues.

Health care delivery was good, although prisoners waited a long time for primary care. The prison had no personality disorder service. Psychologically informed treatment fell short of demand, and there were no clear arrangements to meet prisoners’ social care needs. The chief inspectors said this affected both patients and the staff caring for them.

The chief inspectors said leaders must now put the pandemic behind them. They called for a focus on getting prisoners back into meaningful work, training and education. They said staff shortages and a rising population would continue to hamper progress.

Inspectors have reported on the prison again since, with an independent review of progress published in February 2024.