§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what response the Northern Ireland Prison Service has made to Her Majesty's Inspector of Prisons' report on HMP Maze; and if she will place a copy of the response in the Library. [78162]
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Table A Number Loyalists UVF 42 LVF 17 UDA 53 Total 112 Republican PIRA 85 INLA 23 Total 108 Information is held in relation to the perceived paramilitary association of prisoners, where applicable, for management purposes. With the exception of HMP Maze where links are more clearly defined, this information is based on a combination of factors including the offence, sympathies and associates. No information is held on the political affiliations of any prisoners. For clarification, I would confirm that these figures include prisoners currently on temporary release from prison.
Table B shows a total of 77 prisoners whose cases have been deemed to meet the requirements of the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998 by the Sentence Review Commission and who have been given Substantive Determinations with release dates up to end September 2000. It includes only those prisoners whose perceived affiliation is to organisations which have not been specified under Section 3 of the 1998 Act. This is drawn from information received by the Secretary of State as at 5 February 1999 from the Sentence Review Commissioners to whom prisoners apply for early release. The 1998 Act also provides that, if circumstances permit, prisoners with release dates falling after the second anniversary of the coming into force of that Act (on 28 July 1998) who have served two years or more in prison will be released on that anniversary. Those prisoners are not shown in Table B.
§ Mr. IngramI refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave him on 15 February 1999,Official Report, column 477.