Fears Magilligan jail could lose its majesty in shake-up

Asked if ‘Her Majesty’ was to be chopped off the title of local jails and whether the crown was to be scrapped from Prison Service uniforms the Minister said the service’s culture should be considered.

Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) MLA Jim Allister expressed concern over a reference in the final report of Dame Anne Owens’ Prison Review Team that the proposed shake-up of the Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS) was “like the reform of policing...an essential part of the move to a normalised society.”

Mr Allister asked the Minister if we are facing into a future where local jails are longer going to be Her Majesty’s prisons.

He asked: “Perhaps the Minister, in replying, will confirm to us most robustly that that will not happen. I will listen with interest to see whether he does. Like the reform of policing, is the badge of the Prison Service to be changed?

“Is the crown to go? Let us hear from the Minister a robust denial that that will be any part of the agenda. When we read that the reform of the Prison Service must be like the reform of policing, alarm bells ring very loudly indeed.”

There was no robust denial from the Prisons Minister who did not rule out a review of the symbols and emblems used by NIPS.

Responding to Mr Allister’s concerns he stated: “Jim Allister referred to some extent to symbols and titles as they apply to the Prison Service.

“Those are operational issues for the Prison Service, but I believe that if NIPS is serious about fundamental and end-to-end structural and cultural reform, it cannot fail to consider the symbols and emblems that are visible signs of the organisation’s culture and focus.

“That is one of a range of operational issues that I will be expecting NIPS to consider as part of the change process over the coming months.

“NIPS has to deliver a transformation of its culture and it cannot move forward unless it addresses those sorts of issues along with others relating to staffing and estates, and so on.”

Mr Allister retorted: “So that we are absolutely clear, is the Minister saying that he anticipates an end to our prisons being called “Her Majesty’s prisons” and that he anticipates an end to the crown being part of the symbol of the Prison Service?

“Will he be clear on that? If he is saying those things, I want to tell him that there are many in the unionist community who will be appalled at the direction in which he is taking us.”

Mr Ford: replied: “I think that it is a pity that we are getting hung up on symbols. It is the only issue that anybody has wanted to intervene on during my speech this afternoon.

“I said that we are looking at a process of fundamental and end-to-end reform that will affect every part of the working of the Prison Service and its culture.

“In those circumstances, although these issues are operational matters for the Prison Service, it has to consider them as it looks for the appropriate way to run in the years ahead.”