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Staff at Northern Ireland’s highest security jail have warned they are at risk of losing control of the facility.

Sources within Maghaberry Prison say warders are stretched to the limit, tasked with overseeing a packed jail with ever-diminishing resources.

Rank and file prison officers have begged to be armed with pepper spray to fend off vicious attackers.

As it stands, regular officers are not provided with the spray, designed to temporarily immobilise assailants.

But staff say that given the lack of manpower in Maghaberry their lives are being put at risk by the lack of approval for the self-defence tool.

A source said: “There is no logic to not giving us spray.

“It’s a deterrent more than anything but in the worst-case scenario it could buy a vital few seconds.”

Back in 2014 the prison officers’ union chief Finlay Spratt said the distribution of the spray to staff was long overdue.

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He said at the time: “Years ago it took eight officers to look after 50 prisoners, they have now reduced it down to two... it is impossible and you would need eyes in the back of your head. I have asked for pepper spray, to give the staff the confidence to walk those landings but was turned down flat.”

With officers overwhelmed, dissident republican prisoners have escalated tensions in a bid to keep their stranglehold over the Roe House block.

Roe was built in 1999 and houses republican prisoners, including several of Northern Ireland’s most high-profile terror suspects.

In 2012 it was revealed £1million was spent repairing damage caused in the prison by dirty protests over the previous three years.

Prison officers are often forced to wear forensic suits, gloves and masks when working the wings.

Loyalists are housed in Bush and also recently demonstrated the power they hold inside the jail.

A UDA guard of honour was staged without prison chiefs’ knowledge to celebrate mass murderer Michael Stone’s wedding .

A source said prison authorities were left red-faced by the bizarre shindig in the jail’s Bush House.

“It is embarrassing to the hierarchy that they could have been on top of that,” they said.

“ Michael Stone’s wedding wouldn’t happen in the blink of an eye. They would have known. They should have had them locked down.

“They have cut the numbers on the landings, staff on the landings, but the authorities should have had a better oversight of what was happening.

“Recently we had the smoking of cigars when Adrian Ismay died so it’s basically another flexing of muscles by prisoners.”

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A spokesman for the Prison Service said: “NIPS recognises that Maghaberry Prison is a complex and challenging environment. In January CJINI highlighted that progress was being made across a range of areas and that needed to continue. An action plan to ensure a safe, decent and secure regime at Maghaberry has also been developed by NIPS.

"If a member of staff has concerns about their work, there are mechanisms in place to communicate these to the senior team.”

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