The Five Demands

Il Northern Ireland Prison Service ha annunciato che il nuovo governatore della prigione di Maghaberry sarà Steve Rodford, attualmente governatore del carcere di Whitemoor nel Cambridgeshire, e che ricoprirà il nuovo ruolo a partire dal 20 luglio.
L’avvicendamento del governatore si è reso necessario nell’ambito delle indagini delle cause concomitanti che hanno portato alla morte del prigioniero Colin Bell, suicidatosi lo scorso anno. Visto la sua tendenza all’autolesionismo, era stato stabilita una sorveglianza ad intervalli di 15 minuti, ma al momento del suicidio è stato appurato che alcuni ufficiali carcerari stavano dormendo o guardando la televisione.
All’inizio di questo mese è stato rivelato che il precedente governatore e il vice governatore della prigione di Maghaberry non avrebbero dovuto affrontatare alcuna azione disciplinare.
La priorità di Rodford sarà quella di  “garantire  una cultura di responsabilità e di cura all’interno del regime carcerario a Maghaberry”.

New governor for Maghaberry jail (BBC News Northern Ireland)
The Northern Ireland Prison Service has announced that Steve Rodford will be the new governor of Maghaberry Prison. Mr Rodford is currently governor of Whitemoor Prison in Cambridgeshire and will take up his new post on 20 July. It follows a review team’s report which said a new senior management team led by a governor from outside NI should be appointed as soon as possible. The review team was set up after the Prisoner Ombudsman’s report into Colin Bell’s death in Maghaberry last year. Mr Rodford said his “overriding priority” was to “ensure that there is a culture of accountability and care right across the prison regime at Maghaberry”. Governor Alan Craig, who was based at Prison Service headquarters in Belfast, took up his post as the new deputy governor of Maghaberry Prison on 1 July. Earlier this month it was revealed that the previous governor and deputy governor at Maghaberry would not face disciplinary action over the death of Colin Bell. Bell who was serving a life sentence for murder, hanged himself in 2008. An earlier report found some staff who were supposed to be monitoring him were lying in bed watching television while they were supposed to be on duty. Bell, who had a history of self-harm, was on suicide watch and was meant to be monitored every 15 minutes.