Prison Service meets majority of yearly targets

The annual report of the Northern Ireland Prison Service has revealed that the Service met the majority of its targets over the past year.

The report, which was released on Thursday, showed that for the year 2002/03 the Service met 8 out of its 11 key targets including those covering security, safety and expenditure.

Commenting on the publication, Peter Russell, the Director General of the Northern Ireland Prison Service said: "This Annual Report covers a period which has seen great disruption in the Northern Ireland Prison Service.

"The discovery in October, that the names of a large number of prison staff had been found in possession of the Provisional IRA, caused great concern and upset to our staff and their families who thought the days of intimidation and targeting were behind them.

"As well as this incident, there continued to be attacks, threats and incidents of intimidation against our staff. I regret that prison staff are targeted for doing their job in protecting the community.

"However, I share their determination that we will continue to develop a constructive regime for prisoners which treats them as individuals and helps them spend their time in prison constructively."

Thursday's report also revealed that as well as meeting its main targets it also met 10 out of 16 development objectives with significant progress made against the other six.

The Corporate and Business Plan, contained in the report, also contained the 11 Key Performance Targets set by Ministers for the forthcoming year.

(MB)