Service targets cost of NI prisoners

Maze Prison is empty after paramilitary prisoners were freed

The annual cost of holding a prisoner in Northern Ireland is close to £75,000, almost three times the amount for inmates in England or Wales.

The prison service intends to reduce this figure by 17% over the next three years, according to a report published on Tuesday.

More than 900 prisoners are now being held in the province's prisons - Maghaberry in County Antrim, Magilligan in County Londonderry and the Young Offenders' Centre in Belfast.

The cost of the Northern Ireland Prison Service has come down hugely over the years

Robin Halward

The early release of republican and loyalist paramilitary prisoners under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, means a much reduced prison population.

The majority of these prisoners were freed from the high-security Maze Prison outside Belfast, leading to the closure of the jail late last year.

But the exodus of prisoners means there are now two members of staff per prisoner, with a £97m prison budget for the next 12 months.

In England and Wales, the annual cost of holding a prisoner is £28,000.

The director general of the prison service, Robin Halward, believes targeting the cost of inmates in the province poses a "significant challenge".

Unit costs

However, he says that efficiency has already increased.

"The cost of the Northern Ireland Prison Service has come down hugely over the years," he said.

"It's about 36% less now than it was in the year 1997/ 1998, and we've already brought the cost of a prisoner place down by about 9%.

"So a good start has been made. But generally speaking, as the costs have come down, so have we taken places out of the system.

"We now need to try and get the unit costs down further still."

Finlay Spratt of the Prison Officers Association has urged the government not to make any further cuts in the number of prison officers in the province.

Paramilitaries

He also believes it is "unfair" to compare the system in Northern Ireland with those of England and Wales.

"You cannot make a comparison because England and Wales do not deliver the type of regime that we deliver here," he said.

"They don't have the security problems that we have. Although the paramilitary prisoners are gone, there's still an element in the system that has links to paramilitaries."

He said 67,000 prisoners were being locked up in England.

"The more prisoners you can put in, then it brings down the cost."