A NEW kitchen and café which is under construction at a Northern Irish prison is expected to bring employment opportunities for inmates once they are released.
The project at Magilligan Prison, a medium security site located near Limavady in Co. Derry, will see a permanent kitchen and café space erected to replace an existing portacabin structure which has housed the prison’s kitchen since 1990.
That kitchen was designed to supply food to 300 prisoners daily, however Magilligan currently houses 500 prisoners, who are all men with six years or less to serve.
Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister Naomi Long welcomed the project, while visiting the new build structure this week, which she describes as “essential investment” for the prison community.
“A fit for purpose, secure prisons estate is essential for the rehabilitation of people in custody,” Minister Long said.
Justice Minister Naomi Long (centre) pictured at Magilligan Prison with Beverley Wall, Director General of the Northern Ireland Prison Service, and Gary Milling, Governor of Magilligan PrisonMagilligan’s new kitchen and café forms part of the first phase of essential capital works at the prison estate.
New prisoner accommodation is also set to be built there “in the next few months”, Minister Long confirmed, consisting of a new 10-bed unit for use by “those individuals nearing the end of their sentence and preparing for their resettlement back into the community”.
“Much of the Northern Ireland prison estate is nearing the end of its useful economic life, with the prison service facing rising maintenance costs totalling £28m over the last eight years,” Ms Long explained.
“These costs are in large part due to ageing infrastructure,” she added.
“The Magilligan Prison estate in particular, has been highlighted in various inspection reports as unfit for purpose, with temporary buildings and Second World War Nissan huts with deteriorating walls, roofs and flooring plus aging plumbing, electrical and heating systems,” the minister explained.
“I fully understand that all of this work requires considerable resource at a time when public finances are extremely challenging.
Magilligan Prison is a medium security facility near Limavady in Co. Derry“However, without continued and long-term investment in our prisons, they will further deteriorate.”
Regarding the current project, Ms Long added: “The new kitchen and café project at Magilligan will deliver the largest working and training kitchen in the North West, supporting prisoners to gain catering and hospitality skills and qualifications and improve opportunities to gain employment when they are released.
“A more energy efficient facility will also reduce annual maintenance costs and contribute to Government targets for achieving Net Zero Carbon Emissions.”
Also within the master plan for Magilligan, are a new welcome and visits centre, independent living units, a new energy centre, and an administration and emergency control room building.
And elsewhere on the prison estate, the Northern Ireland Prison Service has proposed to develop three independent living units on the Hydebank Wood College and Women’s Prison site, creating a “step-down facility for female prisoners”.
“Prison is a community within a wall where people live, work and visit,” Ms Long said.
“Long term investment in its infrastructure is therefore essential to support rehabilitation, enhance independence and improve safety for staff and the people placed in the care of the prison service.”