HC Deb 29 March 1990 vol 170 cc308-9W
48. Mr. Kilfedder

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement about the prison service in the light of the decision of the Dublin Supreme Court.

Mr. Cope

As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said in the House on 14 March the suggestion that persons returned to custody in Northern Ireland would be subject to ill treatment wasan unacceptable slur on the professionalism of the men and women of the Northern Ireland prison service."—[Official Report, 14 March 1990; Vol. 169, c. 481.] whose members work with courage and commitment often in difficult circumstances. Conditions in the Maze prison and throughout the Northern Ireland prison system compare most favourably with those found elsewhere in Europe and prisoners are able to enjoy the benefits of an imaginative and constructive prison regime.