Mr. Conal McFeely:

I will speak on the current issues that must be reconciled and would enable Roe House to be a settled, conflict-free environment. The focus of our endeavours was to create a conflict-free environment within the separated wing which houses republican prisoners. Clearly, there is an issue with controlled movement. It was agreed in the August 2010 agreement that a process would evolve whereby there would be greater free flow in how prisoners can utilise the landings and so forth. At present, we have a situation where, of the prisoners who are housed in Roe 3 and Roe 4, only four prisoners are allowed out at any one time. As a result of the work we did in the stock-take, we recommended that an independent person should be brought in to examine the situation and see if we could break the impasse.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which is an internationally renowned body, took on the role of trying to resolve that issue. It came up with a recommendation that, again, was approved by the prison administration and accepted by the prisoners but, unfortunately, when it came to implementation of that recommendation the prison authorities said they did not have the staff to do it. It is our view that controlled movement is a major bone of contention and it needs to be resolved.

On the issue of full body searching, we put forward recommendations on how new technology could be utilised to resolve this issue. Mr. Peter Bunting and I visited Portlaoise Prison to see how the system is working there with prisoners who are housed as republican prisoners. There is a mechanism available that could help resolve this situation. It is our standing that there is newer technology available that would remove the need for full body searching, which is a degrading process not only for the prisoners who have to endure it but also for the prison staff who have to carry it out.

Another key issue is isolation policy. This issue needs to be addressed because of the unease it causes not only within the prisons but within the wider populous. We are told that prison policy is a devolved matter in the North but the determination of who is located on the republican wing or the loyalist wing is at the behest of the British Secretary of State. The British Secretary of State has the power to deny people access to Roe House. This situation needs to be addressed. In one case, a prisoner was held in isolation for five years. This means the prisoner was in lock-up for 23 hours for five years. This needs to stop. Four people were recently arrested in Lurgan. Three of them have been allowed to go into Roe House but the fourth has been denied access to it. This is inhumane. These issues need to be dealt with.

The biggest issue we attempted to address in 2010 was education and skills provision. It is non-existent within Roe House. Prisoners are being denied access to education and other stimuli. We know that there are a number of prisoners who would like to be involved in Open University courses, etc., and craft work. We have been arguing now for over six years that the prison authorities should appoint an Irish tutor so that prisoners can promote their Irish language and Irish culture but this has been denied. This is unacceptable.

It has recently emerged that a prisoner from Derry who is being held on the signature of the Secretary of State is being denied normal process in law. This is unhelpful. It undermines confidence and trust within the prison system. The wife of this particular prisoner visited the prison last Sunday with her severely disabled son. I know this family well. This woman is not a political activist. She is a mother of three children, two teenage girls and a severely disabled son. The woman has alleged - this matter has been referred to the PSNI - that she was assaulted by a prisoner officer as she was trying to deal with her disabled son. The prison governor has written to her informing her that she will be denied family visits. This is unheard of.

In my experience of dealing with prisons in Northern Ireland this type of situation only adds to mistrust in the ability of the prison regime to deal with these matters in a humane and sensitive way. There is a moral issue from a prison perspective. We would argue that the August 2010 agreement is not being implemented because of the ongoing threats and intimidation of staff. We would argue that, as provided for in the fundamental principles of the August 2010 agreement, staff should be able to go about their work without any intimidation or threat. Mr. Bunting alluded to the fact that over the last six years two prison officers have lost their lives as a result of the ongoing dispute within the prison.