Northern Ireland Prison Service
The Northern Ireland Prison Service is an executive agency of the Department of Justice, the headquarters of which are in Dundonald House in the Stormont Estate in Belfast.[1]
It was established as an agency on 1 April 1995. Agency status was re-confirmed following a quinquennial review in 2000. The Prison Service is responsible for providing prison services in Northern Ireland. Its main statutory duties are set out in the Prison Act (Northern Ireland) 1953 and rules made under the Act.
The Prison Service is a major component of the wider criminal justice system and contributes to achieving the system's overall aims and objectives. As the responsible Minister, Minister of Justice accounts to Northern Ireland Assembly for the Prison Service and shares Ministerial responsibility and accountability for the criminal justice system as a whole with the Attorney General . The Prison Service is headed by the Director General. As of August 2009, the Northern Ireland Prison Service employed 1,893 staff.[2]
The Prison Service currently has three operational establishments:
- HMP Maghaberry: a modern high-security prison housing adult male long-term sentenced and remand prisoners, in both separated and integrated conditions. Immigration detainees are accommodated in the prison's Belfast facility.
- HMP Magilligan - a medium-security prison housing shorter-term adult male prisoners which also has low-security accommodation for selected prisoners nearing the end of their sentences;
- HM Prison and Young Offenders' Centre, HMP Hydebank Wood - a medium-to-low-security establishment accommodating male young offenders and all female prisoners (including female immigration detainees).
There is also a staff training facility, the Prison Service College, at Millisle, Co Down.
See also
- Northern Ireland Department Of Justice
- Attorney General for Northern Ireland
- Advocate General for Northern Ireland
- Northern Ireland Executive
- Northern Ireland Assembly
- Her Majesty's Prison Service
- Scottish Prison Service
- Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons
- HM Prison
- Her Majesty's Young Offender Institution
- United Kingdom prison population
- List of United Kingdom prisons
- Prison categories in the United Kingdom
- Young offender
- OASys
- Prisons in the Republic of Ireland
References
- ↑ "Prison Service Headquarters." Northern Ireland Prison Service. Retrieved on 30 May 2010.
- ↑ http://www.ome.uk.com/Document/Default.aspx?DocumentUid=FCCDF87C-C3F3-450F-9609-794AD48D337F
