Justice Minister welcomes findings of inspection report

The report by Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland finds that both life and indeterminate sentenced prisoners are well managed both in custody and in the community following their release on licence.

While areas for improvement were identified by inspectors, they identified significant progress since their last report in 2009 and experienced good working in partnerships across different agencies in the criminal justice system.

David Ford said: “This is a critical area of work which is essential for public safety.

“I am pleased that, on the whole, Inspectors found that the arrangements for working with life and indeterminate sentenced prisoners to reduce their risk of offending and support their return to the community are being well managed.

“I welcome the progress noted within the report to enhance the provision within custody and the assessment that those on life licences are being carefully managed in the community by the Probation Board.

“This is a good example of the type of work that can be done to encourage and support the rehabilitation of offenders and provides a good platform from which further improvements can be made.”

The report makes three strategic recommendations and identifies 11 other areas where improvements are recommended to enhance operational practice.

Max Murray, Director of Offender Services said: “I welcome the findings of this report which reflect the hard work that has been undertaken to develop the arrangements for the management of life sentence prisoners.

“The Prison Service is going through a fundamental change programme and the strategic recommendations advanced in this report resonate very strongly with this reform agenda.”