Ulster Unionist Justice Spokesperson Doug Beattie MC MLA said:
“People will be shocked to learn that last year prison inmates brought no fewer than 48 judicial reviews against the Northern Ireland Prison Service at a cost to date of £127,190.
“Through an Assembly question I discovered that in the twelve-month period from 1 December 2015 to 30 November 2016 there were 48 judicial reviews brought by prisoners against the Northern Ireland Prison Service. Of these 29 came from Maghaberry, 12 from Magilligan and 7 from Hydebank Wood.
“This seems to me to be a rather large number – almost one per week – and an expensive exercise which I have little doubt was funded via legal aid, with many of the cases enthusiastically pursued by certain law firms seeking yet another lucrative pay day from the public purse.
“I am calling on the Justice Department to ensure processes are in place to reduce the number of claims against the Prison Service and in particular to weed out obviously vexatious claims at the earliest possible stage so as to protect the public purse.”