An investigation is to be launched after trouble flared at Maghaberry Prison near Lisburn today. Rioting at Maghaberry Prison in Antrim is under control, although officials say a substantial amount of damage was caused. The Northern Ireland Prison Service said fires, which had been started in the recreation room of one of the wings, had now been put out. It says 19 remand prisoners who barricaded themselves into the wing have now returned to their cells.
Maghaberry is a mixed jail, where Loyalist and Republican prisoners are held in one of its wings, although the majority of the inmates are not paramilitary. The trouble is the latest in a series of disturbances at the jail. Maghaberry currently houses 483 inmates.
Paramilitary prisoners in the North return to jail this evening following their twelve day Christmas break. More than 140 loyalist and republican paramilitaries were freed from the Maze, and are due back there this evening.
