Jeffrey Donaldson: Former DUP Leader Faces Risk Management Challenge in Prison
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'Massive challenge' to protect paedophile Donaldson from harm in jail
Image source: PA Media
Image caption: Donaldson, pictured leaving court in June, will spend half of his 15-year sentence behind bars.
By Iain McDowell and Fiona Murray, BBC News NI
Published 16 October 2026, 00:01 BST
Updated 11 minutes ago
Protecting convicted paedophile Jeffrey Donaldson from harm inside jail will be a "massive risk-management headache" for prison bosses, according to a former governor.
The ex-Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader was given a 15-year sentence on Thursday after being convicted of 18 counts of sex abuse, including rape, against two women when they were children.
He is serving his sentence at Maghaberry Prison near Lisburn but will spend only half of his term behind bars.
Ian Acheson, who worked for HM Prison Service for about a decade, said the former Lagan Valley MP faced risks from fellow inmates.
Image source: PA Media
Image caption: A prison van took Donaldson from Newry courthouse to jail after he was sentenced.
Donaldson represents a "very complex challenge to the Northern Ireland Prison Service", Acheson added.
"There are always hierarchies within prisons - and there are even hierarchies within sex offenders - and the lowest of the low and the most vulnerable in terms of hostility from others are those who've been convicted of sexual violence against a minor," he said.
But he said it would also be necessary to "examine potential political or sectarian targeting" relating to Donaldson's leadership of the DUP and his service in the Ulster Defence Regiment, a former Army unit.
"The prison has a duty of care to protect him and he is uniquely vulnerable," Acheson told BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme.
"Maghaberry, in previous inspections, has indicated that it operates an integrated regime, where sex offenders can be safely managed in the wider prison community. I don't think that is remotely viable for Jeffrey Donaldson, given those offence characteristics and his background."
Acheson continued:
"So either he is kept, in effect, in conditions of solitary confinement for years and years or another solution has to be found. I don't think it's acceptable to keep him in conditions of solitary confinement - it may not even be legal."
Reading in his cell
Donaldson spends up to 18 hours a day in his cell at Maghaberry Prison, which holds about 1,600 inmates.
It is thought he has been put in the Moyola Unit, which primarily houses prisoners with health issues, for his own safety as it isolates him from risk of attack or verbal abuse from other prisoners.
He is believed to spend much of his day reading books from the prison library.
Acheson said the disgraced former politician was "entitled to protection but he's not entitled to special, preferential treatment."
There was a "precedent within the UK" to transfer prisoners within different jurisdictions, Acheson added - therefore Donaldson "could be potentially compulsorily transferred" to another jail.