HM Prison Maghaberry

54.514°N 6.186°W / 54.514; -6.186

HMP Maghaberry
LocationLisburn, Northern Ireland
StatusOperational/For Sale
Security classHigh Security
Capacity970[1]
Opened1986
Managed byNorthern Ireland Prison Service
GovernorDavid Savage

HM Prison Maghaberry is a high security prison near Lisburn, Northern Ireland, which opened in 1986. It was built on the site of RAF Maghaberry, a World War II airfield, which was used as a flying station by the Royal Air Force and also as a transit airfield for the United States Army Air Forces. At the end of the war, the airfield was run down and bought back from the Air Ministry in 1957 by Edward Thomas Boyes who then farmed the old airfield with his sons until the Northern Ireland Office began work on the prison in 1976.

Mourne House, which held all female prisoners, young offenders, and remands, was the first part of the new prison to be opened in March 1986. This followed the closure of the existing women's prison at HMP Armagh. The male prison became fully operational on 2 November 1987. Following the closure of HMP Belfast on 31 March 1996, Maghaberry became the adult committal prison in Northern Ireland. Two new accommodation blocks were opened in 1999.

In 2003, the Steele report recommended options to make Maghaberry safe – including "a degree of separation" for Irish republican and Ulster loyalist inmates.[2]

Maghaberry is currently a modern high-security prison, which houses adult male long-term sentenced and remand prisoners, in both separated and integrated conditions. The prison holds 970 prisoners in single and double cell accommodation.

In February 2016, a prison inspection report by the Northern Ireland Department of Justice condemned HMP Maghaberry as being unsafe and unstable and in operation without a correct insurance policy due to an ongoing land dispute over ownership,[3] citing suicides as well as clashes between inmates and prison staff.[4] His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons in England and Wales Nick Hardwick described the prison as "one of the worst prisons I've ever seen and the most dangerous prison I've been to"[5]

Notable prisoners

References
  1. "Maghaberry Prison". Northern Ireland Prison Service. Archived from the original on 14 October 2009. Retrieved 19 March 2007.
  2. "Jail report opts for 'separation'". BBC News. 5 September 2003. Archived from the original on 4 December 2003. Retrieved 22 July 2008.
  3. "Maghaberry Prison inspection report". Department of Justice (Northern Ireland). February 2016. Archived from the original on 16 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  4. Henry McDonald (2 February 2016). "Maghaberry prison in Northern Ireland unsafe and in crisis, say inspectors". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  5. "Maghaberry prison 'most dangerous in the UK'". Belfast Telegraph. Belfast. 5 November 2015. ISSN 0307-5664. Archived from the original on 16 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  6. Erwin, Alan (23 April 2018). "Double killer dentist Colin Howell questioned as part of new sexual assault allegation". Belfast Telegraph. Belfast. ISSN 0307-5664. Archived from the original on 23 May 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  7. "Loyalist killer Michael Stone opens art show during jail release". BBC News. 9 August 2018. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  8. "Robert Black: Convicted child killer dies in prison". BBC News. 12 January 2016. Archived from the original on 6 August 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
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