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NI: Women Prisoners Punished

01 September 1992

Following the mass strip search at Maghaberry women's prison in March (see Statewatch, vol 2, no 3) prisoners have been punished for a range of offences including barricading cells, refusing to be strip searched and assaulting staff. 21 prisoners have been found guilty of refusing to obey an order to undergo a full search and were punished with seven days loss of remission, 14 days' loss of access to the yard in the afternoon and 14 days' loss of evening association. Seven prisoners were found guilty of erecting barricades for which they received 14 days loss of remission (to run consecutively), 28 days loss of afternoon yard access, 42 days' loss of evening association, and three days cellular confinement. Of the seven charged with assaulting staff, one has been found guilty while six cases are pending. Fifteen of the group have been granted a judicial review of the governors adjudications and twelve were granted interim relief from the punishments in relation to 20 charges, pending the High Court's review.