NI Prison Service

Peter Taylor: “Gradually I got used to reporting death. But I never became insensitive to it.”

Pete Baker on April 1, 2017, 3:23 pm | Readers 2354

In advance of the broadcast on BBC Radio 4 tonight, 8pm, of Peter Taylor’s documentary, Fifty Years Behind the Headlines – Reflections on Terror, the renowned journalist has written an article on the subject for the BBC website. Most revealing, on many levels, is the part in which he recounts the “interview [which] affected [him] personally above all others.” The blanket protest by the IRA prisoners in the Maze started in 1977. They refused to wear prison uniform, insisting they were political prisoners and …

“Items not detected included drugs, mobile phone batteries, scissors and a knife.”

Pete Baker on February 13, 2013, 10:05 pm | Readers 50

The BBC NI home affairs correspondent Vincent Kearney seems to have gotten hold of a prison service evaluation report of the three month trial of electronic body scanners at Magilligan prison and Hydebank Wood – as a suggested alternative to full-body searches. The Assembly’s Justice Committee is due to discuss the report tomorrow [Thursday]. From the BBC report Items not detected included drugs, mobile phone batteries, scissors and a knife. Nearly 1200 prisoners and prison staff were searched using two millimetre wave …

Protest cancelled as prison agreement reached

Pete Baker on August 13, 2010, 12:56 pm | Readers 9

The Northern Ireland Prison Service has published the text of an agreement between segregated republican prisoners in Maghaberry Prison and prison authorities. The agreement is expected to bring to an end the protest by the prisoners in Roe House, and the planned public demonstration in Londonderry on Saturday has been cancelled. From the BBC report BBC NI Home Affairs Correspondent Vincent Kearney said that during the discussions, the prisoners had put forward a list of five demands and that agreement had been reached on …