Maghaberry Prison: Reaction to damning report

Inspectors who visited Maghaberry Prison, near Lisburn, County Antrim, in May found it in a "state of crisis", according to a report released on Thursday.

The joint report was compiled by Her Majesty's Chief Inspectorate of Prisons in England and Wales and Criminal Justice NI.

It is one of the most critical of any prison in the UK. Her Majesty's Chief Inspectorate of Prisons in England and Wales, Nick Hardwick, said it was the most dangerous prison he had ever inspected in his role.

David Ford, Northern Ireland justice minister

"I accept their findings as an accurate, comprehensive statement of how they found the prison when they did the report six months ago.

"The prison service in response to the preliminary reports, the immediate feedback, put immediate measures in place, that is why there is a detailed action plan which is published today as to how matters are being addressed and that is why there has been an improvement.

"But it was a very poor report and showed a very significant number of problems that needed to be addressed and which are now being addressed."

Alastair Ross, DUP justice committee chairman

"It is no surprise to those of us who have talked to prison officers that morale was found to be at rock bottom with astonishingly high levels of staff sickness.

"Given that they have been working in an unsafe environment with officers routinely threatened and intimidated, it is not unexpected.

"The justice committee has already asked Brendan McGuigan, chief inspector of criminal justice in Northern Ireland and Sue McCallister, director general of the Northern Ireland Prison Service, to appear in front of the committee next week."

Raymond McCartney, Sinn Féin vice-chair of the justice committee

"This report is a damning indictment of the Prison Service failures, particularly in Maghaberry.

"It highlights a lack of leadership at senior level, resistance to change, concerns around health care provision, endemic absenteeism among other serious failings.

"The issues underscored in this report must be fully addressed and implemented and just as importantly be seen to have been addressed without further delay."

Sue McAllister, Northern Ireland Prison Service director general

"This is a disappointing report. The snapshot taken in May demonstrated that Maghaberry had been greatly affected by staff absence which had a serious impact on the regime and outcomes for prisoners.

"That has been addressed through robust management of attendance while supporting staff, recruitment of new officers and through redeployment from the other prisons.

"Since May, sickness levels have fallen sharply, which means more officers on the landings and a more progressive and settled regime."

Brendan McGuigan, chief inspector of Criminal Justice NI, one of the report's authors

"What we saw and what we heard brought us to the clear conclusion that this prison was on a downward spiral.

"In 2009 we thought we had reached a watershed, in 2012 we saw improvements and we thought there were the green shoots of recovery.

"But at this inspection we found that it had regressed completely to a state that was actually extremely worrying to the inspection team."

Phil Scraton, Queen's University Belfast professor of criminology

"Where the buck stops for this, without any question, is in the overall management of the Northern Ireland Prison Service.

"It has to go as high as it can be, because you cannot have a succession of negative reports like this."