Prison officers' chiefs today demanded government action after a warder's home was hit by a shotgun blast.
Nobody was hurt in the attack when the front window was shattered at the man's home in Larne, Co Antrim.
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The officer is based at Maghaberry Prison, near Lisburn, where the authorities are resisting pressure by republican and loyalist prisoners campaigning to be segregated.
The attack late last night was the latest on off-duty officers, some of whom have also had their cars burned and bullets sent through the post.
Prison service director general Mr Peter Russell said he deplored the shooting, which he claimed represented an attack on men and women simply doing their job of serving the whole community.
"Attacks and intimidation serve no purpose other than to terrify innocent families and their neighbours," he said.
Mr Finlay Spratt, chairman of the Northern Ireland Prison Officers Association, claimed up to 90 officers at Maghaberry were on sick leave, the majority of them because of assaults and intimidation linked to the demands for segregation.
"We know we are vulnerable, and there is little we can do about it," he said. "These prisoners are totally disrupting the prison system. Officers have no protection, and what has the government done about it? Absolutely nothing," he said.
PA