By Michael McHugh
The Irish News
BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Full-body scanners using X-ray radiation could be introduced in Northern Ireland’s prisons as a UK first, it was revealed yesterday.
The measure has to be approved by the Department of Energy and Climate Change amid concern it could pose health issues if prisoners are scanned too often.
It may provide a way of checking inmates on entering or leaving jail without strip-searching, which prompted a no-wash protest by dissident republicans at Maghaberry high-security prison in Co Antrim.
Justice minister David Ford said: “This is something which has not been used in any prison in the UK. It has to go through the full justification process.”
He could not set a timescale on the technology’s introduction. It uses ionising radiation to take an image of the person’s body to detect any contraband being carried.
In the past, prison managers in the north have had problems controlling the supply of drugs and other illicit material brought in from outside.
Last month a prisoner at Maghaberry was discovered wearing a watch with an in-built camera and recording equipment.
Mr Ford said efforts were being made to introduce the new scanning technology as quickly as possible while protecting the safety of inmates and staff.
“There has been a considerable speeding-up of the process, both in terms of running the pilots in the other two institutions and in preparing the paperwork to look at transmission X-rays,” he said.
“That is an indication of good faith on the part of the prison service.”
Mr Ford told the assembly that some prisoners in separated wings of Maghaberry had ended their dirty protests and work was commencing to repair the part of the prison affected. The number still not cooperating is in single figures.
Dissident republicans are held in a separate area at Maghaberry and have been protesting for months over strip-searching - using a tactic which preceded the polarising IRA hunger strikes in the 1980s and which has prompted intervention from nationalist politicians including Sinn Fein.
The prison service has insisted it has not entered any deal with those who stopped their demonstration recently.
The service has been trialling a different form of airport-style security at two other prisons in Northern Ireland, Magilligan in Co Derry and Hydebank Wood in Belfast.
Prison officers were left reeling earlier this month when dissident republicans shot dead their colleague David Black as he drove to work at Maghaberry.
Mr Ford has led efforts to reform the service amid the ongoing threat after a string of critical reports about suicides in cells, poor mental health care and an over-reliance on physical security dating from the years of the conflict.
He has proposed breaking Maghaberry into three mini-prisons, separating inmates on remand awaiting trial from low to medium-risk prisoners and those needing the highest security.
The minister noted the risk of assault facing prison officers as he announced sickness rates among prison staff, which remain above the civil service average.
During 2011/12, absence in the service totalled 14.4 days per staff member. The projected figure for 2012/13 is 12.3.
Mr Ford said: “We are not complacent about the progress to date and every effort is being made to reduce the levels of absence further.
“Management is committed to continue to work with staff and their trade unions to address this issue.”
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