Catholics get less favourable treatment in Northern Ireland prisons, and are more likely to be prosecuted than Protestants, according to a report released yesterday by the Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJINI). The criminal justice watchdog also noted that 80 per cent of prison staff are Protestant, even though most of the inmates are Catholic.
The report, which examined the impact of a section of the Northern Ireland Act dealing with equality and diversity on criminal justice, states: “We therefore have a situation within the prisons where a predominantly Protestant staff is interacting with a majority Catholic prison population and the evidence suggests that Catholic prisoners are receiving less favourable treatment.”
The watchdog probe also found that more Catholics are remanded in custody while awaiting trial and are “over-represented” in prison generally.
In addition to this, a statistically significant lower number of Catholic prisoners were receiving privileges than their Protestant counterparts.
The report points out that unlike the PSNI, the prison service did not undergo a “Patten-style change programme” and there has been very limited recruitment and hence little opportunity to change the mostly Protestant regime. The actual numbers of Catholic and female recruits are “so small that they will not make any significant impact on overall workforce figures for the foreseeable future”.
However, the Prison Service’s own research found the majority of inmates believe they are treated fairly.
The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland welcomed the report by the CJI. “Effective monitoring allows public bodies to identify and address any underlying issues which may impact on the promotion of equality,” said Evelyn Collins, chief executive of the commission.
Michael Maguire, chief inspector of Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland, said the information is helping the service make changes. He recommended an investigation into the high levels of people being held in jail without conviction.
At one point there were more inmates on remand awaiting trial than convicted felons in prisons.
His report also highlighted handling of juvenile crime, noting that in policing districts where the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) had not yet established local offices, Catholic juveniles were more often referred for prosecution, while Protestant juveniles were more often referred for “diversionary (ie non-prosecutorial) disposals”.
Police stated that Catholic juveniles were not being reported for minor offences but broke the law more often and for more serious offences which attract the higher tariffs.
However, the watchdog did not support the claim that Catholic youths commit more offences.
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