'No Lock Down' At Maghaberry

An official denial has followed allegations that a 'lock-down' followed inmate protests in a major NI prison.

A group of republican inmates barricaded themselves into a dining hall and were forcibly removed by prison officers on Monday night.

No one was injured in the hour-long operation to end the two-day protest by 28 prisoners at Maghaberry Prison in Co Antrim.

The inmates had blocked the doors of the room on Easter Sunday, the day republicans traditionally commemorate the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin against British rule.

Yesterday, the prison service said that inmates are not subject to 23-hour lock-up, despite claims made by dissident republicans after the protest ended.

A group linked to the Continuity IRA said the protest was over prison conditions, including lock-downs.

However, in a statement the prison service said inmates were "cared for in a safe and humane manner".

"The prison service strongly refutes claims that prisoners are subject to a 23-hour lock-up - this is not the case," it added.

The prisoners who took part in the incident were 16 Continuity IRA members, 10 Real IRA and two INLA.

On Tuesday, Republican Sinn Fein, which is linked to the Continuity IRA, said the prisoners were protesting over lock-downs, the use of sniffer dogs for searching visitors and prisoners not being allowed to wear Easter lilies.

The prison service said prisoners are allowed to wear the lily - a symbol of the 1916 Easter Rising - in their cells but not in communal areas of the prison.

"This policy has been judicially reviewed on several occasions and each time the judiciary have found in favour of the prison service," it said.

The service added that those prisoners who barricaded themselves into the dining room could face charges under prison rules.

Sinn Féin Assembly member Caral Ní Chuilín has called on the prison authorities to treat Republican prisoners in Maghaberry prison with respect and dignity.

"Regardless of why anyone is in prison they are entitled to be treated with respect and dignity. It is clear that the regime in place for republican prisoners in Maghaberry falls well short of this," she said.

"Prisoners should not be held in 23-hour lock up, they should not have been denied the right to wear Easter Lillies and the decision to remove 28 men to the punishment blocks as a result of the weekends protest is wrong and counterproductive," adding that the Prison Service has to date escaped widespread scrutiny and much needed reform.

"This needs to be a priority for a new Justice Minister," she said.

(BMcC/GK)