The North's Security Minister, Mr Adam Ingram, has condemned the threat to prison officers by the loyalist paramilitary group, the Red Hand Defenders. Mr Ingram denied there was any ill-treatment of loyalist prisoners at Maghaberry Prison. If inmates currently had to spend more time in their cells it was as a direct result of their own actions, Mr Ingram said, referring to recent incidents when prisoners set fire to their cells.
"Threats of this nature serve no purpose other than to fuel an already tense situation. They will change nothing," Mr Ingram said.