More than 20 of the UK’s most dangerous prisoners are involved in a “standoff” with prison officers inside Northern Ireland’s maximum-security prison.
Irish Republican prisoners confirmed tonight that they were staging a protest at the Roe House section of Maghaberry prison, near Lisburn.
The Prison Officers’ Association in Northern Ireland denied reports on Monday evening that one republican inmate had been assaulted during the protest.
Finlay Spratt, of the POA, stressed that there had been no riot or major violent clashes inside the prison.
The republicans said they were protesting against “repressive measures” at Roe House in the prison, where Continuity IRA and other prisoners are held separately from non-political inmates.
A spokeswoman for the Northern Ireland Prison Service said staff were trying to resolve the “ongoing incident” but did not give any more details.
Today’s protest followed a warning by the prisoners at the weekend over new security measures in Roe House.
A statement issued inside the prison said: “Corridors and doorways leading from our landings into areas such as the canteen and yard have been replaced with obstacle courses of multiple turnstiles and steel doors. Furthermore, steel birdcages have been erected to cage us like animals in certain areas of the landing.
“Following protestations from Republican Political Prisoners, the jail administration responded belligerently by covering the birdcages with darkened Perspex and sheets of wood.
“This setup would be hard to imagine for those who have not experienced Roe House. The purpose of these developments however is clear: to debase and disempower Republican Political Prisoners.”
The republican prisoners warned: “Those overseeing and implementing these policies would do well to use history as their guide to see where their actions will lead.”
In 2012 dissident republicans shot dead a Maghaberry prison officer, David Black, while he drove along a motorway on his way to work at the prison.
