Prison boss defends killers' seaside trip to Newcastle
BBCA daytrip to the seaside for five convicted killers has been defended by the Northern Ireland Prison Service.
The inmates visited Newcastle, County Down, last Thursday, where they hiked up Northern Ireland's highest mountain and had tea on the town's promenade.
Prison Service Director General Ronnie Armour acknowledged that the exercise had caused "hurt and pain to victims".
But he insisted it was the "right thing to do" as it was aimed at rehabilitation.
'Physical well-being'
"It's the role of the Northern Ireland Prison Service not only to hold prisoners securely, but also to prepare them for release," Mr Armour told the BBC's Talkback programme.
"In Northern Ireland, life does not mean life and therefore there is an onus on the prison service, working with our colleagues in probation and a number of other organisations, to work with individuals to prepare them for that day, in order to smooth their transition back into society."
Mr Armour confirmed that the five killers were accompanied by just two prison staff as they climbed Slieve Donard.
The guards were not armed and the prison boss explained that his officers do not carry firearms in Northern Ireland.
Four of the five inmates are serving lengthy sentences for killing women.
Mr Armour said the two guards were "experienced" staff members and the exercise was fully risk-assessed before the inmates were released.
"The individuals who we took out were long-term prisoners who have been in custody for quite some time, they were older men," he told Talkback.
"We believe that taking them out with experienced prison staff not only was important for their well-being - in terms of their physical well-being and their health - but also gave us an opportunity to work alongside them in a more normal environment, rather than in a prison context."
Who are the prisoners?
- Gerard O'Kane, who stabbed his estranged wife in her north Belfast apartment in 2011.
- Ulster Defence Association member Billy Moore, who shot a man in the head in Bangor, County Down, in 2003
- William Mawhinney, who drowned the mother of his two children in a bathtub in their Ballymena home in 1995.
- Siu Ching Wong, who strangled pregnant waitress Candy Ho in a suspected contract killing in 1998.
- Former policeman Kenneth McConnell, who suffocated pensioner Annabella Symington in her south Belfast home in 1989.
The temporary release exercise has been criticised by victims' representatives and the Ulster Unionist Party's justice spokesman, Doug Beattie.
Mr Armour was asked if the families of the five victims were informed before the men were taken to Newcastle.
He replied that relatives were not told in advance, but that it was not a requirement when the release is only temporary.
The prison boss added that the five inmates were brought back to their cells "without incident" later on Thursday evening.
It is not the first daytrip of its kind, and Mr Armour confirmed that other prisoners have been escorted to the Mourne Mountains under their "robust" rehabilitation programme.
He acknowledged the widely-reported excursion had caused controversy among victims' groups but he said he welcomed the debate about how prisoners are reintegrated back into society.
"That involves supporting and challenging them to change and that's a key programme for government objective that the prison service has been set", he explained.
"We have been asked and given responsibility for working to reduce reoffending in Northern Ireland, in order to make the community in which we live a safer place."