“Adrian’s profession was simply to keep people safe and we will do everything possible to bring those responsible to justice”.
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One man has already been charged with attempted murder.
The attack happened in the Hillsborough Drive area and also forced the evacuation of houses and a massive police search.
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Detective Chief Inspector Richard Campbell said: “Adrian was the father of three grown-up daughters and had over 28 years’ service with the Prison Service”.
Stormont’s Prison Service confirmed his death.
A group calling itself the New IRA has claimed responsibility for the bombing and told the BBC he was targeted because he had trained guards at HMP Maghaberry.
Ismay was wounded on his way to work at Hydebank Wood Young Offenders Centre and Prison when a bomb fixed beneath his van exploded.
Although the exact circumstances of the death have yet to be fully established, Mr Spratt claimed the explosion was a contributing factor.
Police have warned that there is a “severe” threat to security forces as the centenary approaches later this month of the 1916 anti-British Easter Rising, the most dramatic chapter of Ireland’s independence struggle. Senior officers have said there are several hundred active dissidents.
That violence largely ended with the historic Good Friday power-sharing agreement in 1998.
Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster tweeted that she was “devastated”.
“A very sad day indeed for Northern Ireland and for everyone who wants to see progress and peace continue”.
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“I am stunned and deeply saddened to learn that the prison officer from my constituency has passed away. They can not and will not be allowed to take this society back to the past”.
