THE PRISONER Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Pauline McCabe, is today expected to publish a damning report on the running of Maghaberry Prison.
The report into the death by suicide of prisoner Colin Bell at Maghaberry in August last year is due to highlight serious flaws in the running of elements of the prison. Last October, 17 prison officers were suspended after it was discovered that some of them had brought camp beds and other sleeping material into the prison while they were scheduled to be on night-shift duty, including monitoring vulnerable prisoners such as Bell. Not all 17 were on duty the night he died.
Bell, who had a history of self-harm, was serving an eight-year sentence for an arson attack in which a man died. He took his own life while he was supposed to be on 24-hour suicide watch by prison officers.
Ms McCabe is likely to issue more than 40 recommendations on how to improve operations at the prison.
The DUP's Ian Paisley jnr, a member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, said he saw an early draft of the report and was shocked by its contents. "What I have seen and what I have discussed with several prison officers is probably one of the most disturbing and perplexing set of circumstances into serious institutional failure," he said.
Sinn Féin policing board member Martina Anderson said it was vital all the ombudsman's recommendations were implemented.
