Controversy over new Magilligan prison governor

Colin McConnell intends to implement widespread reform of NI prisons

The new governor of Magilligan prison is the man who was removed from his job in charge of another prison after the death of an inmate.

It had been recommended that Alan Longwell should face a disciplinary investigation after Colin Bell took his life in Maghaberry in 2008. No such investigation took take place.

Prison service chief Colin McConnell, has defended the decision.

He also announced a number of other appointments.

The moves come weeks before the initial report of a major prisons review ordered by Justice Minister David Ford.

Mr Ford said one of his priorities would be reform of the prison service, which had more staff than prisoners.

Colin McConnell, who took up his post earlier this month, said the appointments would "position the service to move forward quickly as it prepares to undertake widespread reform".

Mr McConnell defended the decision to appoint Mr Longwell who was removed from his post at Maghaberry into a back office role at prison service headquarters after an investigation into Colin Bell's death.

Different service

"If events happen that are unacceptable whilst an individual is in command there will be consequences and clearly for Alan Longwell there were serious consequences," he said.

"The positive message is that those skills and experience can be put to use in the future and there is a different service moving forward in a different set of circumstances."

At the time the prisons ombudsman Pauline McCabe recommended that Mr Longwell should face a disciplinary investigation.

In a statement on Friday Mrs McCabe said that although it remained her view that such an investigation should have taken place, she welcomed the appointment.

"I recognise also that the failings identified in the Colin Bell investigation occurred against a background of prison service-wide management, organisational, governance and industrial relations problems," she said.

"We are more than two years on. We have a new director general who, it is very evident, is fully committed to delivering widespread reform and believes that Alan Longwell can now play an important role in taking the service forward."

The new governor at Maghaberry will be Pat Maguire, with Austin Treacy appointed as deputy governor.

Recruitment campaign

A new second deputy governor post has been created at Hydebank for the management of the women's facility.

Alan Longwell will take up the post of governor at Magilligan Prison.

Mr McConnell said his new staff have confirmed that they were committed to "driving through the necessary reforms we must undertake."

"It is important that as we move forward as a service, the vision of senior management is shared, owned and delivered throughout the wider prison service," he said.

"To make this happen, and as a departure from the current management arrangements, governors of our three prisons will report directly to me and will be measured against the challenging objectives I set them.

"This new level of accountability underlines our commitment to change and become a more efficient, effective and delivery-focused service."

Mr McConnell said that later in the year he would launch a recruitment campaign aimed at attracting graduates as future senior prison managers.

He said it would be the first time in 20 years that external recruitment to the governor grade had taken place in Northern Ireland.

Dame Anne Owers was asked last year to conduct the review after a series of reports were strongly critical of the penal system in Northern Ireland.

Her team is expected to produce an initial report followed by more comprehensive recommendations before the summer.

A report published just before Christmas said industrial relations in Maghaberry Prison near Lisburn were "destructive" despite there being more staff working in prisons than there were inmates to supervise.

It also detailed how it was two-and-a-half times more expensive to house prisoners in Northern Ireland than elsewhere in the UK.