Aging justice estate includes WW2-era Nissen huts at HMP Magilligan – Long

Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister Naomi Long has warned of an aging justice estate, including Second World War-era Nissen huts in use at HMP Magilligan.

She highlighted the future potential of not being able to separate victims and witnesses from the accused in courts if capital investment is not secured.

Speaking during questions for her department at the Assembly on Monday, Ms Long described the justice system as being delivered from facilities that are “often antiquated and use outdated technology”.

She pointed to Magilligan where she said people are still being housed in Nissen Huts which had been built to house Italian prisoners of war during the Second World War.

She added with the severe weather often at Magilligan Point, it is “literally through hope and prayer that that building has held together during all of those storms, given the battering that it takes on a regular basis”.

“We know already some of the significant damage that was done in a previous storm where the walls of the boiler house were actually demolished by the wind,” she added

Ms Long said investment of £270 million a year will be needed across four years from 2026 to 2029 to upgrade and modernise the justice estate.

“Doing so will actually release savings because we will have more efficient buildings, we will have more heat controls and more sound controls, but it will require investment,” she told MLAs.

“Planned capital projects for the four years from 2026/27 to 2029/30 would cost, on average, 270 million pounds each year. That would require significant additional funding above the current 100 million capital budget for my department.

“They reflect the cost of the number of key departmental projects for police, courts, prisons, forensic science, and many of them are included in the draft investment strategy.

“We have to invest in ambitious transformation programs across the Justice estate and to support and sustain investments in our estate with a focus on rehabilitation and a clear opportunity to invest to save.”

Asked about the potential consequences of not investing, Ms Long said the cost may end up being not being able to meet the needs of those using the justice system.

“For example, we will have courtrooms that don’t have the ability to separate victims and witnesses from the accused, and that can create distress in some of those cases,” she said.

“It would also reduce the department’s ability to deliver future savings from the plant project, including estates rationalisation, the use of energy efficient systems, and that capital investment will reduce the need for ever more urgent and expensive maintenance repairs as infrastructure is modernised and replaced.

“We need modular accommodation for prison service, because our prison population is growing. We need to modernise Magilligan and Hyde bank prison estates.

“There is a new Police College and modernisation of the wider police estate, IT transformation and modernisation projects at court and the modernisation of the Royal Courts of Justice and Bishop street courthouse, both of which are listed buildings and both of which are heavily used.”