The Ulster Unionist Party’s Justice Spokesperson, Doug Beattie MC MLA, has repeated his call for an end to the separated regime for terrorist/paramilitary prisoners in Northern Ireland’s prisons.   

Speaking after the launch of The B9 Review Team’s “Report on Education and Training Opportunities for Prisoners in the Separated Regime in Northern Ireland March 2019”, Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie MC said:

“This report is a typical bureaucratic response which aims to tick all the set boxes, but does not address the real issue.

“It is time - 20 years after the Belfast Agreement – that we finally ask the question, just what are we actually trying to achieve by the continued existence of a separated regime for paramilitary/terrorist prisoners?

“There are no political prisoners. What we have are organised crime gangs who use violence, intimidation and murder to impose their will on communities. Anyone in the separated regime is there because they are a member of a violent criminal group.    

“These people have no intention of reintegrating into society or changing their behaviour. If they did, they would leave separated wings and go into the normal general prison population.

“What is the point of pandering to these people and spending a fortune to accommodate a relatively small number of people in a separated regime, giving them a special status?

“The bottom line is that they should not be permitted to dictate the type of prison system we have. It cannot be justified – neither morally nor economically - and we as a society should not meekly accept this.

“It is time we cut out the jargon and the obsession with how we train Prison staff. They are not responsible for the existence of organised crime gangs

“This is about showing organised violent criminal gangs that they will not be allowed to dictate how we as a society run our prisons.

“What we need is a plan to end the separated regime.”