Background to the Research

• In general, Loyalist prisoners sentenced for activities linked to the political conflict in Northern Ireland do not use the statutory services created to provide services for ex-prisoners. This is mainly due to Loyalist prisoners themselves drawing a distinction between those convicted of ordinary crimes and those sentenced for politically motivated crimes. In light of this, various Loyalist political prisoner welfare groups have emerged in order to provide support services for prisoners and their families.
• One of these groups, Prisoners Aid and Post-Conflict Re-settlement Group, was established in 1995 and works mainly with prisoners and families associated with the UDA and the UFF. The Group carried out research into the service needs of prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families, from May 1996 to May 1997.
  

Research Approach

• A database of prisoners and ex-prisoners was constructed from which a representative sample was chosen. Questionnaires were distributed to 200 prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families, and 180 were completed. Formal and informal interviews were carried out with a random sample of 100 questionnaire respondents. Interviews were also carried out with prisoners' relatives groups.
  

Main Findings

Profile of the Sample

• Fifty-two per cent of Loyalist prisoners were aged between 20 and 30 years, 42% aged between 30 and 40 and 5% were aged 40 years or over.
• Seventy-five per cent of prisoners have served, or are serving, sentences of 5 years or more and 47% have served, or are serving, life sentences.
• Prior to imprisonment, 55% of prisoners were single young men (the majority of whom were serving long or life sentences), 38.3% of prisoners were married and 5% were separated. Whilst 53.9% of released prisoners were single, 34.4% were married and 10% separated.
• Of the 207 prisoners with children, 102 had children aged between 5 and 10 years, 50 had children aged between 10 and 15 years and 40 had children aged between 2 and 5 years.
• Eighty-eight per cent of prisoners reported having domestic problems during imprisonment, with 40% reporting having domestic problems after release.
• Almost 99% of prisoners reported that they did not experience stigma in their host communities after release.
• Eighty-two per cent of prisoners were employed prior to the time of their arrest and nearly 18% were unemployed. After release 49% were unemployed, 41% employed and 9% were in full or part-time education or community/voluntary work.
• Over 80% of respondents regarded the responses of social services to their needs as poor, whilst 16.2% of respondents reported that social workers responses were satisfactory or good.
• Respondents highlighted welfare services, resettlement support, representation and advocacy and counselling as high priority needs. The majority reported that these needs are currently being met through the Loyalist Welfare Groups.
• Out of a total sample of 180 only 13 men reported increased academic qualifications and 6 reported obtaining vocational qualifications.

Families of Loyalist Prisoners

• Prison has a traumatic effect upon the prisoners immediate family, the partner/wife of a prisoner has to cope with the absence of a breadwinner in a new set of circumstances.
• Many respondents reported feelings of abandonment and isolation that lasted for up to two years.
• Children of prisoners experienced a range of changes during the imprisonment of their fathers. These included withdrawal, anger/rage, confusion, rebellion, educational decline and offending. Problems relating to over-mothering, rejection by neighbours and paranoia over the reactions of others have all been experienced at one time or another.
• Partners/wives reported anxieties concerning the ability of ex-prisoners to re-settle and re-establish relationships with family members after long periods of imprisonment.

Ex-prisoners and Employment

• The DVLO refuses PSV licences to anyone with any form of previous conviction. This seriously impairs the chances of ex-prisoners gaining certain types of employment, most notably taxi-ing.
• The majority of unemployed ex-prisoners felt that employers perceived the employment of ex-political prisoners as a 'risk'.
• Many ex-prisoners were involved in vocational and educational training programmes within their own self-help groups and community.
• Ten ex-prisoners were engaged on the first year of a three year Community Work programme.
• Other ex-prisoners were enrolled with North City Training, where they were on various NVQ job skill training courses ranging from administration to PSV Bus/Coach driver courses.
• A number of ex-prisoners were involved in the Action for Community Employment Programme.

Life Sentence Loyalist Prisoners

• Parole had a very positive effect on life sentence prisoners and their families. The prisoners themselves reported feeling hope for the future and relief from the stress of an indeterminent sentence. Parole was perceived as being a very important part of the re-settlement process for prisoners.
• The families of those serving life sentences also reported positive views concerning parole. They also felt it reduced distress and anxiety, cemented relationships and gave families a realistic expectation of when they could expect their families home.

Recommendations

• The Northern Ireland Office and the British Government should acknowledge that UDA/UFF prisoners are political prisoners, accept that political prisoners must be released when the conflict ends, expand current parole schemes and extend remission to 66%.
• The Prison Service should grant Loyalist Welfare professionals the same visiting rights as solicitors, assess the relevance of current education and training programmes, modify and expand such programmes and give greater financial support to prisoners during parole.
• The statutory and voluntary sector should accept the principal of self-help and direct resources towards loyalist ex-prisoner support groups.
• Counselling must be provided in-house to deal with the range of social and emotional problems experienced by prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families.
• More research needs to be carried out into the effect of imprisonment on prisoner's children.
• Welfare representation and advocacy by loyalist self-help groups is urgently needed. Increased training should be made available for staff and volunteers from these groups.
• Meaningful training facilities need to be established, schemes should be for three year periods in order to facilitate a return to employment for ex-prisoners. Special provision needs to be made for former prisoners which takes account of the restrictions on where they can travel for reasons of personal safety.
• The practice by the DVLO of refusing licences to former prisoners should cease.