Loyalist and republican prisoners in Northern Ireland's main prison are to be separated in the wake of violence and protests, the British government announced today.
The Northern Ireland office made the concession despite being firmly of the opinion integration was the best way to run a jail.
However ministers insist "separation" in Maghaberry Prison in Co Antrim is not the same as the "segregation" which operated in the now-closed Maze prison.
Northern Ireland security minister Ms Jane Kennedy said: "No one wants a return to the conditions that existed at Maze where prisoners could intimidate and attack other prisoners and staff."
Several months of violent clashes between rival groups and an ongoing "dirty protest" by republican dissident inmates has forced the about turn in a jail which has operated an integrated policy for almost 20 years.
The British government made the decision to separate republicans and loyalists from ordinary inmates - and, crucially, from each other - following recommendations in a report on prison safety.
Mr John Steele, a former Ulster prison service chief, was asked by the Secretary of State, Mr Paul Murphy, last month to head a swift review into the safety of both prisoners and staff in the jail.
In his report published today he concluded: "Separation of paramilitary prisoners is necessary in the interests of safety."
He added: "We reached this view after much soul searching and on the basis that the Government will never again concede complete control of the wings to prisoners as happened at the Maze."
There are currently 650 prisoners in Maghaberry and the director-general of prisons in Northern Ireland, Mr Peter Russell said he expected separation to involve "more than 5 per cent of the prison population but less than 25 per cent".
Ms Kennedy said there would be no sliding back to the Maze Prison days when inmates virtually ran their own areas.
"Prison staff must and will remain in control," she said.
The minister said British government, prison management and prison staff remained firmly of the view that integration was the safest regime for prisoners and staff when prisoners conformed and co-operated.
But speaking at a Stormont news conference she said: "A small minority of prisoners have now refused that co-operation.
"They have set themselves against the regime in a way that compromises the safety of both staff and prisoners.
"We will not allow that to lead to a breakdown of the whole regime."
Ulster Secretary Mr Paul Murphy told the prisoners bluntly that the new regime could not be allowed to "become a staging post to Maze-style segregation".
The British government would do "all that it can" to ensure that remained the case, he said.