Non-religious pastors have been allowed for the first time to run a secular “chaplaincy service” for atheist prisoners inside a top-security jail holding some of the most dangerous paramilitary prisoners in Europe.

Prisoners who do not believe in God inside Maghaberry jail in Northern Ireland can now speak with humanist carers.

Up to 50 convicted New IRA and other violent dissident republicans are incarcerated in Maghaberry. They are segregated in the jail on the outskirts of Belfast from a smaller number of convicted loyalist paramilitaries.

The Northern Ireland Humanists group, which is part of Humanists UK, recruited two trained non-religious pastoral carers after gaining permission from the regional Department of Justice this year to enter Maghaberry.

A Criminal Justice Inspection report in 2019 into Maghaberry prison found that after Christians, inmates who identify as having “no religion” make up the largest group of the jail’s population.

One of the new carers for atheist inmates, Ciaran McWilliams, said his work for two decades as a shop steward in a Belfast factory was “perfect training” for dealing with the prisoners.

McWilliams spends one day a week along with a colleague from the humanist movement inside the prison.

“When I was a trade union official it felt very much like pastoral care at times. Besides talking to fellow workers about pay issues, an impending strike or bullying on the shopfloor many of them would pour their hearts out about other things far beyond the factory. In my time I had to talk to colleagues about their marriage breaking up or their problems with drink and so on. I hope I can bring some of that experience in this new role as a non-religious pastor.

“What I’ve learned so far since we were allowed into the jail is that non-believer prisoners will talk about a wide range of things. It could be about their belief that they should not be in there right to discussions on what is the meaning of life. A lot of them have serious anxiety and PTSD issues as well.”

The 47-year-old trade unionist, who retired from his job at the aircraft-maker Bombardier in east Belfast on medical grounds, said he spent between five minutes to half an hour with each atheist prisoner. Thus far he and his female humanist colleague, who does not wish to be named due to security concerns, have met up to eight prisoners a week.

Up to 90 prisoners in a survey of the wider prison population in Northern Ireland declare themselves “non-believers”.

McWilliams said he noticed that among the non-believers in Maghaberry there was relief that secular pastoral care was now being offered.

“Atheist prisoners can feel more isolated than those who are religious. Other prisoners see chaplains and attend Sunday services where there is collective worship. Some have told us that they have no family or other visitors, and we may be the only person they speak to other than their cellmate in a day. Hearing that made us realise how vital our work is, and we have been hugely welcomed by the prison management and staff.”

His colleague said she was impressed by how she had been treated by the prison officers.

“From the start they were polite, courteous and welcomed us in. And some of them have a real grasp of the gap we were filling in the lives of those prisoners who are non-believers. As for the prisoners themselves I suppose the key thing we have done so far is simply to listen to them and let them express themselves,” she added.

McWilliams said their long-term aim was to set up an education/discussion group among atheist prisoners.

The Northern Ireland Humanists coordinator, Boyd Sleator, stressed that non-religious prisoners had the same legal rights for pastoral care as inmates with religious beliefs.

“Demand for non-religious pastoral care is growing not only in all of Northern Ireland’s prisons but also its hospitals. This is because the number of people in the census and in public attitude surveys who say they are non-believers or non-religious is growing here. It shows tremendous progress to have the first ever pastoral carers in Maghaberry, and we hope it will now be rolled out across more settings,” he said.

Almost 20% of prisons in England and Wales, and 45% in hospitals, have non-religious pastoral carers.