Human Rights Commision reply -- Stormont Watch

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2], 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: Tue, Sep 06 2011, 22:18:53 PDT
Author: MAGHABERRY DIARY
Subject: Human Rights Commision reply

Maghaberry Prison update
by Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission on Friday, September 2, 2011 at 9:55am
The Commission has been monitoring very closely the conditions of detention and regime at Roe House in Maghaberry Prison over the past 18 months or so. We have worked very closely with the Prisoner Ombudsman and supported her investigations into allegations arising out of the conditions and regime.

The Commission is also in contact with the legal representatives of some of the prisoners and when there are any legal proceedings brought by a prisoner we consider if the Commission could add value to those proceedings.

We have also met with the Minister for Justice and have pressed him to find a way to address the situation. We have visited with the Roe House prisoners a number of times, the most recent being 5 August 2011 and we are again raising their concerns with the relevant authorities. We are also writing individually to prisoners to provide human rights advice and information. The Commission will continue to work closely with all the relevant bodies that have a role to play in ensuring that the conditions and regime at Roe House do not breach human rights standards.

Brendan Lillis
The Commission was contacted about the case of Brendan Lillis and our legal staff were in discussion with Brendan�s solicitor on whether and how the Commission could assist. The Commission contacted the South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust to seek clarification of the care and treatment being provided to Brendan and also to ask if his overall welfare could improve if he was to be moved from a prison setting to a hospital setting in the community. The Commission also contacted the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority as we wanted to ensure that it was aware of Brendan�s case in its role as the National Preventative Mechanism under the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture.

We asked that authority if it intended to investigate Brendan�s case and it has informed us that it will inspect the care and treatment of all vulnerable prisoners across all the three prisons in Northern Ireland. We also contacted the Parole Commissioners of Northern Ireland informing them of our interest in the case. The Chief Commissioner personally visited Brendan in prison on 5 August 2011 and spoke with him. As a result of that visit we wrote again to the Parole Commissioners to inform them of our view of Brendan�s situation and asked that our correspondence be put before the panel considering Brendan�s case.

Contact us
If you would like to make an individual complaint about human rights please contact the Commission, email: info@nihrc.org

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]