Brendan Lillis is a prisoner who suffers from a debilitating illness known as ankylosing spondylitis. He is seriously ill; so serious in fact that those closest to him are of the view that he is dying. His partner informed a meeting in Derry a few evenings back that it was her view he that could be dead within ten days. Some sources within the Northern Ireland Prison Service are thought to be of a similar mind. If so it does not leave much time.