Northern Ireland Prison Service Medal

The Northern Ireland Prison Service Medal is a long and meritorious service medal established by Royal Warrant on 15 January 2002. Presented to personnel working for the Northern Ireland Prison Service, the medal is awarded for five years of meritorious full-time or part-time service. Agreed to in principle by the Queen in 2000, the medal was created to recognize the service of prison service personnel who have served in "difficult and often dangerous conflict" during the Troubles.

Appearance
The Northern Ireland Prison Service Medal is circular, made of cupro-nickel. The obverse bears the effigy of Queen Elizabeth wearing the Imperial State Crown. The reverse depicts a design of the flax flowers surrounding the inscription Northern Ireland Prison Service Medal surmounted by three keys.

The medal is suspended from a ribbon one and a quarter inches wide. The ribbon is composed of equal stripes of green and navy blue flanking a stripe of sky blue. For prison officers a thin stripe of red is centered on the sky blue stripe.