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| Inmates Protest Atop N. Ireland Prison |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 06/30/2003 |
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Convicted Protestant and Catholic militants broke onto the roof of Northern Ireland's main prison and spent the night there to protest having to share quarters in the low-security facility. Eight inmates, including members from paramilitary groups on both sides of the Northern Ireland conflict, climbed atop their building at Maghaberry Prison around 6:45 p.m. Friday and refused to come down. The prisoners kept officers at bay partly by pretending to have discovered a bomb in the prison. Officers summoned British army experts to inspect a suspicious package that turned out to contain no explosives. The protest ended peacefully Saturday when the eight inmates climbed back to their rooms without intervention by the officers. Prison officials launched an inquiry into how the inmates breached security so easily. Maghaberry Prison, 25 miles west of Belfast, was opened in the mid-1980s as a lower-security alternative to the nearby anti-terrorist Maze Prison, which closed in 2000. The regime at Maghaberry has long been considered unusually comfortable. Unlike the Maze, where paramilitary groups wielded substantial authority by insisting on occupying their own wings, Maghaberry houses dissident Irish Republican Army members alongside anti-Catholic extremists - and, to the frequent disdain of both camps, criminals unaligned with any group. Once hundreds of prisoners won early parole as part of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord, the Maze closed and Maghaberry began to feel the strain. Today it houses more than 180 prisoners, among them some of the province's most uncompromising extremists. Normally, Maghaberry prisoners are housed in single rooms with television and other modern conveniences, but in recent months the prison has required prisoners to begin sharing space. The Prison Service said four of the eight protesting prisoners were currently 'doubled up.' |
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