‘If I’m entirely honest, he comes across as likable,” says Stephen Nolan, shaking his head as he leaves an interview with a 6ft 6in Lithuanian man serving 10 years for beating a man to death in an alleyway. “And that battle is why I’m here.”
Nolan is a Northern Irish journalist who has been given unprecedented access to a high-security prison in County Antrim for serious and paramilitary offenders. The result is a powerful and gripping series, Jailed: Inside Maghaberry Prison, in which Nolan interviews prisoners and staff to find out – well, how that whole loss of liberty, societal need for punishment and opportunity for rehabilitation to prevent recidivism thing is working out. It is delivered in six tight, punchy half-hour episodes that give you much to think about, once you’ve stopped reeling from the impact.
