Prisoners’ agreement costs £700k
AN agreement which ended a protest by republican prisoners will cost taxpayers up to £700,000, it has emerged.
Earlier this year, a group of dissident republicans locked themselves in the canteen of Maghaberry prison in a dispute with authorities.
Prisoners were aggrieved by policies on restricted movement and strip searches.
The four-month protest ended in August after an agreement between both parties.
The agreement – which includes a new facility for searching and modification to prisoner exercise yards – will cost up to £700,000 to implement.
The figures were obtained by DUP MLA Paul Givan, who expressed concern at the extent of the public expense
“I think the public will be shocked at these figures and won’t be happy with them,” he said.
“I have two main concerns, one that we have a two-tier system in Maghaberry where the separated regime has had privileges enhanced, and that to me is taking a step towards what the Maze prison was like, and that is somewhere we do not want to go to.”
He told the BBC: “The other issue is the public concern about this amount of money being spent on a very small number of individuals within Maghaberry prison when we can’t get the money for new schools and we’re struggling to fund hospitals.”
