Northern Ireland Prison Service - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Northern Ireland Prison Service is an executive agency of the Department of Justice

Department of Justice (Northern Ireland)

The Department of Justice is a devolved Northern Ireland government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The current Minister of Justice is David Ford, who is a member of the Northern Ireland Executive...

, the headquarters of which are in Dundonald House

Dundonald House

Dundonald House is a government building in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is situated in the Stormont Estate along with several other Northern Ireland Civil Service buildings. It is the headquarters of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Northern Ireland Prison Service.-...

in the Stormont Estate

Stormont Estate

The Stormont Estate is an estate east of Belfast in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is within the townland of Ballymiscaw. The Stormont Estate includes Northern Ireland's main government buildings, which are surrounded mainly by woodland....

in Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

.

It was established as an agency on 1 April 1995. Agency status was re-confirmed following a quinquennial review in 2000. The Prison Service is responsible for providing prison services in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

. Its main statutory duties are set out in the Prison Act (Northern Ireland) 1953 and rules made under the Act.

The Prison Service is a major component of the wider criminal justice

Criminal justice

Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts...

system and contributes alongside other partners, to achieving the system's overall aims and objectives. As the responsible Minister, the Secretary of State

Secretary of State

Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....

accounts to Parliament

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

for the Prison Service and shares Ministerial responsibility and accountability for the criminal justice system as a whole with the Lord Chancellor

Lord Chancellor

The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...

and the Attorney General

Attorney General

In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

. The Prison Service is headed by the Director General. As of August 2009, the Northern Ireland Prison Service employed 1,893 staff.

The Prison Service currently has three operational establishments:

HMP Maghaberry
Maghaberry (HM Prison)
HMP Maghaberry was built on the site of a World War II airfield near Lisburn, Northern Ireland that was used as a transit base for the United States Army Air Force....

: a modern high-security prison housing adult male long-term sentenced and remand
Detention of suspects
The detention of suspects is the process of keeping a person who has been arrested in a police-cell, remand prison or other detention centre before trial or sentencing. One criticism of pretrial detention is that eventual acquittal can be a somewhat hollow victory, in that there is no way to...

prisoners, in both separated and integrated conditions. Immigration detainees are accommodated in the prison's Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

facility.
HMP Magilligan
Magilligan (HM Prison)
Magilligan Prison is a prison run by the Northern Ireland Prison Service situated near Limavady, County Londonderry. It was first opened in May 1972 and comprised eight Nissen huts on the site of an army camp...

- a medium-security prison housing shorter-term adult male prisoners which also has low-security accommodation for selected prisoners nearing the end of their sentences;
HM Prison and Young Offenders' Centre, HMP Hydebank Wood
HMP Hydebank Wood
Her Majesty's Prison, Hydebank Wood is a Young offenders centre located in South Belfast. The centre houses young males between 17 and 24 years of age, and the site also contains Northern Ireland's prison for women, and has been used at times to hold immigration detainees....

- a medium-to-low-security establishment accommodating male young offenders and all female prisoners (including female immigration detainees).

There is also a staff training facility, the Prison Service College, at Millisle

Millisle

Millisle or Mill Isle is a village on the Ards Peninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is mostly within the townland of Ballymacruise, about south of Donaghadee. It had a population of 1,800 in the 2001 Census...

, Co Down.

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