The Five Demands

“Nail that lie”: exclusive interview with Colin Duffy, Brendy Conway and Damien McLaughlin (County Antrim Post)
Spending in an exclusive interview with the County Antrim Post, Colin Duffy has claimed he want to “nail the lie” told by Justice Minister David Ford in regards to current protest sitution in Maghaberry.
“The ongoing protest taking place in Maghaberry will be stepped up by Republican prisoners” if Justice Minister David Ford does not implement the full terms of the Roe House Agreement.
The Roe House Agreement was struck between republican prisoners and prison authorities with the help of independent facilitators in August 2010. This agreement was to end the use of full body strip searches in the prison and replace this system with the non invasive BOSS chair scanner and other technology based producers. A gradual reduction in controlled movement for republicans within Roe House was also part o this agreement.
Recently released prisoner Brendy Conway has told us “the agreement immediately broke down after prisoners claimed it did not cover strip searching in the reception area of Maghaberry”.
He went on to say “The prisoners in Roe House (Maghaberry) are in 23 hour lock down and actively in a dirty protest. The prison is run full time by ther riot squad in full riot gear and prisoners are being physically held down and having their clothes ripped off them, some have had them cut off with scissors”. Colin Duffy believes “this is a throw back to 1981”.
Conway addes “one prisoner, in the last 8 month period, has been strip searched 76 times”.
Mandy Duffy (Family and Friends of Republican prisoners Maghaberry)told the County Antrim Post “they (the prisoners) are living in their own waste, on 23 hour lock up and many have been on the receiving end of brutality dished out by the thuggish screws employed by Maghaberry”.
In response to a statement made by David Ford last week, which was aired on BBC, Colin Duffy says “David Ford says it wasn’t part of the agreement to end strip searching. We as negotiators and signatories of this agreement want to nail this lie from David Ford.
Ex prisoner Damien McLaughlin added “not only do we know this is a lie but the independent facilitators who were involved in the negotiations are of the same agreement that this would mean an end to strip searching with the exceptions of a few circumstances which were agreed at the time.”
It is claimed by our sources that the Prison service reneged on its agreement. The prisoners then commenced a protest in Roe House in a bid to end strip searching and remove controlled movement. We have been informed by the Friends and Family group that on the top landing within Roe House Oglaligh na hEireann and Republican Sinn Fein aligned prisoners are putting their human waste on the walls. On the bottom landing, prisoners aligned to the 32 csm and independent prisoners are putting their waste on to the landing.
When contacted by the County Antrim Post a spokesperson for NIPS said: “the Northern Ireland Prison Service ha consistently maintained that full body searching on entering and exiting any prison is essential to preserve the security to the establishment and the safety of other prisoners, staff and the wider community  in line with practice in other jurisdictions throughout Europe.
“A search facility for separated prisoners at Maghaberry, incorporating  a SOSS Chair, has been operational since 17 November  2010. In line with the Augusto 2010 Agreement, there Is no  longer any requirement for routine rub down searching within the separated wings, except where a prisoner is being moved out of the wing . However, the BOSS Chair cannot detect non-metallic items, NIPS believes that the existing arrangements are consistent with the august agreement and remains committed to the implementation of the Agreement. This position was upheld by the courts when it was challenged by judicial review early this year.
“in lin with Dame Anne Ower’s recommendation that we should seek an alternative to “full body searching” in her Review of NIPS, we are currently researching what, f any, other alternative technologies are available. To date, no viable alternative has been identified”. “ Members of the NIPS Dedicated Search Team are currently deployed to Roe House at Maghaberry prison for operational reason but this arrangement is kept under review by the Governor. There are complaints procedures in place, in particular the Prisoner Ombudsman should any prisoner believe that NIPS staff have behaved inappropriately.
“NIPS operate a Dirty Protest and Faecal Contamination Policy. These arrangements were recently re-inspected by CJINI and RQIA, and the Minister announced last week that a Prison Service Action Plan responding to recommendations made following that inspection of conditions for separated prisoner at Roe House has been published. The current policy provides health and safety advice to staff who deal directly with the separated prisoner protest”.
Brendy Conway says in the interview “There has been a general ignorance of what is going on in Maghaberry and a media block for selfish gains”.
To which Damien McLaughlin added “Until we achieve what we were promised in this agreement we will keep our protests going. Support in continually growing and we are branching out over the six counties”.