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Mountbatten: Death of a Royal

Mountbatten: Return To Mullaghmore

The Day The Troubles Began

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Nolan Interview:
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Northern Ireland’s prison population has doubled since the end of the Troubles.

Prison authorities gave Below the Radar unfettered access to all three institutions where 1,500 men and women are serving time.

The stories of the offenders in Maghaberry, Magilligan and Hydebank jails and those of the people who guard them, were gathered over 12 months of filming for this series of revealing and sometimes shocking documentaries.

This is the first time ever that the experiences of women prisoners in Northern Ireland – currently housed on the grounds of the Young Offenders Centre in Hydebank Wood near Belfast – have been captured on film. It follows many years of criticism over how the authorities deal with them and increasing concern about the welfare of some of the most vulnerable women prisoners.

Behind the scenes at our largest prison – Maghaberry, near Moira – the full range of the criminal spectrum in Northern Ireland is laid bare: from the serial thieves for whom prison is a risk that comes with their career, to the Category A inmates, serving life sentences for murder.

But in County Londonderry the men serving lighter sentences and first-time convicts make their first tentative steps back into the community from the open prison within Magilligan. The regime here is viewed as progressive, but the dilapidated state of the buildings means the future of this complex is in doubt.

This series aims to challenge some of the stereotypes which exist about the people who end up in prison and will allow viewers to decide for themselves if and when the prison system provides an effective way of dealing with crime.

First of a four part series going behind the scenes at Northern Ireland's three prisons. Inmates, ranging from petty thieves to killers, tell how they turned to crime and, for the first time, cameras go inside the much-criticized women’s prison at Hydebank on the outskirts of Belfast.

 

 

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Production for:
BBC Northern Ireland

Transmission date:
14th May 2008

For information on this programme please contact:

Part 2 of 4. The series behind the scenes at Northern Ireland's three prisons continues with a focus on the psychological problems underlying the crimes of some of our prisoners; how have they fared under our prison regime?

 

 

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Production for:
BBC Northern Ireland

Transmission date:
21st May 2008

For information on this programme please contact:

Part 3 0f 4. The four-part series going behind the scenes of Northern Ireland's main prisons explores why two in every three prisoners re-offend in the first year after their release. Also, one woman inmate learns whether her baby is to be taken off her forever.

 

 

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Production for:
BBC Northern Ireland

Transmission date:
28th May 2008

For information on this programme please contact:

Part 4 of 4. The series behind the scenes at Northern Ireland's three adult prisons concludes with one prisoner preparing to meet the widow of the man he killed; and the growing drugs problem behind bars leads to tragedy.

 

 

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Production for:
BBC Northern Ireland

Transmission date:
4th June 2008

For information on this programme please contact: