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Home , Brendan Hughes, HM Prison Maze, One Day in My Life, Special Category Status

H-Blocks: The Truth: A Reply to H.M. Government, , Information on Ireland, 1980, 0950738107, 9780950738109, . .

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Northern Ireland managing difference, John P. Darby, Minority Rights Group, 1995, History, 38 pages. .

H blocks British jail for Irish political prisoners, Denis Faul, Raymond Murray, 1979, History, 154 pages. .

An Anti-imperialist's Guide to the Irish War , , 1983, Great Britain, 138 pages. .

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It was situated at the former Royal Air Force station of Long Kesh, on the outskirts of . This was in the townland of , about nine miles (14 km) southwest of . The prison and its inmates played a prominent role in recent Irish history, notably in the 1981 . The prison was closed in 2000 and demolition began on 30 October 2006, but on 18 April 2013 it was announced that the remaining buildings would be redeveloped into a peace center.[1]

Initially the internees were housed, with different paramilitary groups separated from each other, in Nissen huts at a disused RAF airfield that became the Long Kesh Detention Centre. The internees and their supporters agitated for improvements in their conditions and status; they saw themselves as political prisoners rather than common criminals. In July 1972 William Whitelaw introduced for those sentenced for crimes relating to the civil violence. There were 1,100 Special Category Status prisoners at that time.

However, Special Category Status was short-lived. As part of the government's policy of "criminalisation", and coinciding with the end of , the new Secretary of State for , , ended Special Category Status from 1 March 1976. Those convicted of scheduled terrorist offences after that date were housed in the eight new "H-Blocks" that had been constructed at Long Kesh, now officially named Her Majesty's Prison Maze (HMP Maze). Existing prisoners remained in separate compounds and retained their Special Category Status with the last prisoner to hold this status released in 1986. Some prisoners changed from being Special Category Status prisoners to being common criminals. , an IRA prisoner, had been imprisoned with Special Category Status in Cage 11 but was alleged to have been involved in a fight with warders. He was taken to court and convicted then returned to the jail as a common prisoner and incarcerated in the H-Blocks as an ordinary prisoner, all within the space of several hours.[5] Prisoners convicted of scheduled offences after 1 March 1976 were housed in the "H-Blocks" that had been constructed. Prisoners without Special Category Status began protesting for its return immediately after they were transferred to the H-Blocks. Their first act of defiance, initiated by , was to refuse to wear the prison uniforms, stating that convicted criminals, and not political prisoners, wear uniforms. Not allowed their own clothes, they wrapped themselves in bedsheets. Prisoners participating in the protest were "on the blanket". By 1978 more than 300 men had joined the protest. The British government refused to yield. Prison guards soon refused to let the blanket protesters use the toilets without proper uniforms. The prisoners refused, and instead began to defecate within their own cells, smearing excrement on the walls. This began the "". But again the new 1979 government of did not respond.

On 27 October 1980, seven Republican prisoners refused food and demanded political status. Thatcher's Conservative government did not initially give in. In December the prisoners called off the hunger strike when the government appeared to concede their demands. However, the government immediately reverted to their previous stance, confident the prisoners would not start another strike. , the Officer Commanding of the Provisional IRA prisoners, began a second action on 1 March 1981. Outside the prison in a major publicity coup, Sands was nominated for Parliament and won the Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election. But the British government was still resisting and on 5 May, after 66 days on hunger strike, Sands died. More than 100,000 people attended Bobby Sands' funeral in Belfast. Another nine hunger strikers (members of both the IRA and the INLA) died by the end of August before the hunger strike was called off in October.

On 25 September 1983, the Maze suffered the largest breakout of prisoners from a British prison. Thirty-eight prisoners hijacked a prison meals lorry and smashed their way out. During the breakout four prison officers were stabbed, including one, James Ferris, who died of a heart attack as a result. Another officer was shot in the head, and several other officers were injured by the escapees.[6] Nineteen of the prisoners were soon recaptured, but the remainder escaped.

In December 1997, IRA prisoner Liam Averill escaped from the prison dressed as a woman during a Christmas party for prisoners' children.[7] Averill, who was jailed for life after committing two murders, was not recaptured, and was instead given amnesty in early 2001 when he was one of a number of republican escapees to present themselves to the authorities in a two-week period.[8]

Over the 1980s the British government slowly introduced changes, granting what some would see as political status in all but name. Republican and loyalist prisoners were housed according to group. They organised themselves along military lines and exercised wide control over their respective H-Blocks. The (LVF) leader was shot dead in December 1997 by two Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) prisoners.[9]

The prisoners also played a significant role in the Northern Ireland peace process. On 9 January 1998, the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, , paid a surprise visit to the prison to talk to members of the Ulster Defence Association/Ulster Freedom Fighters (UDA/UFF) including , Sam McCrory and . They had voted for their political representatives to pull out of talks. Shortly after Mowlam's visit, they changed their minds, allowing their representatives to continue talks that would lead to the of 10 April 1998. Afterwards, the prison was emptied of its paramilitary prisoners as the groups they represented agreed to the ceasefire. In the two years following the agreement, 428 prisoners were released. On 29 September 2000, the remaining four prisoners at Maze were transferred to other establishments in Northern Ireland and the Maze prison was closed.

A monitoring group was set up on 14 January 2003 to debate the future of the 360-acre (1.5 km2) site. With close motorway and rail links, there were many proposals including a museum, a multi-purpose sports stadium and an office, hotel and leisure village. In January 2006 the government unveiled a masterplan [10] for the site incorporating many of these proposals, including a 45,000 seat national multi-sport stadium for football, rugby and Gaelic games. The Government's infrastructure organisation, the Strategic Investment Board (SIB) was tasked with taking forward the proposed Stadium idea and appointed one of its senior advisers, Tony Whitehead, to manage the project. The capacity of the proposed Stadium was later adjusted to first 35,000 and then 38,000 and the organising bodies of all three sports - Irish FA, Ulster Rugby and Ulster GAA - agreed in principle to support the integrated scheme.

Discussion is still ongoing as to the listed status of sections of the old prison. The hospital and part of the H-Blocks are currently listed buildings, and would remain as part of the proposed site redevelopment as a "conflict transformation centre" with support from republicans such as Martin McGuinness and opposition from unionists who consider that this risks creating "a shrine to the IRA".[11]

In January 2013 plans were approved by the Northern Ireland environment minister for the site to be redeveloped as showgrounds as the result of an application by the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society with the objective of relocating Balmoral Show from its current location in Belfast.[12]

He was the leader of the 1981 hunger strike in which Irish republican prisoners protested against the removal of Special Category Status. During his strike he was elected as a member of the British Parliament as an Anti H-Block/Armagh Political Prisoner candidate.[2][3] His death resulted in a new surge of IRA recruitment and activity. International media coverage brought attention to the hunger strikers, and the republican movement in general, attracting both praise and criticism.[4]

Sands was the firstborn son of a Roman Catholic family; his Catholic mother (Rosalind Sands) and his half-Catholic, half-Protestant father (John Sands) had both been raised in the Catholic slums of Belfast, and after marriage they relocated to the new development of Abbots Cross in suburban North Belfast, Newtownabbey, County Antrim in an effort to avoid the poverty and sectarian violence that had plagued them in their youths.[5][6] His parents were able to live in the Protestant-dominated neighbourhood (there was not a single Catholic church, though there were three Protestant churches and a Protestant-only school) by deliberately concealing their Catholicism from their neighbours, aided by the fact that Sands was not a traditional Catholic surname. Bobby was born in 1954, his first sister, Marcella, was born in April 1955 and second sister, Bernadette, in November 1958. By 1960, the secret of the Sands' religion had leaked out, and after experiencing harassment and intimidation from their neighbours, the family abandoned their house and moved in with neighbours for 6 months before being granted housing in the nearby Rathcoole development. Rathcoole was 30% Catholic and featured Catholic schools as well as a religiously-integrated youth football club which Bobby was a member of, an unusual circumstance for the time.[7][7] His parents, John and Rosaleen, had another son, John, in 1962.

By 1966, the sectarian violence in Rathcoole (along with the rest of Belfast) had considerably worsened, and the minority Catholic population there found itself under siege; Bobby and his sisters were forced to run a gauntlet of bottle and rock throwing Protestant youths on the way to Catholic school every morning, and the formerly integrated Rathcoole youth football club banned Catholic members and renamed itself "The Kai", which stood for "Kill All Irish". Despite always having Protestant friends, Bobby suddenly found that none of them would even speak to him, and he quickly learned to associate only with Catholics.[7] He graduated school in 1969 at age 15, and enrolled in Newtownabbey Technical College, beginning an apprenticeship as a coach builder at Alexander's Coach Works in 1970. He worked there for less than a year, enduring constant harassment from his Protestant co-workers, which according to several co-workers he ignored completely, as he truly wished to learn a meaningful trade.[7] He was eventually confronted after leaving his shift in January 1971 by a number of his colleagues wearing the armbands of the local Protestant loyalist Tartan gang, held at gunpoint and told that Alexander's was off-limits to "Fenian scum" and to never come back if he valued his life. This event, by Sands' own admission, proved to be the point at which he realised peaceful coexistence with the local Protestants was no longer possible and decided that counter-militancy was the only answer.[8][9] In June 1972, Bobby's parents home was attacked and damaged by a loyalist mob and they were again forced to move, this time to the West Belfast Catholic slum of Twinbrook, where Bobby, now thoroughly embittered, rejoined them. He attended his first IRA meeting in Twinbrook the same month, and (lying about his age, as he was only 16) joined the IRA the same day. By 1973, almost every Catholic family had been driven out of Rathcoole by violence and intimidation.[9][10]

Upon his release from prison in 1976, he returned to his family home in West Belfast, and resumed his active role in the Provisional IRA's cause. He was charged with involvement in the October 1976 bombing of the Balmoral Furniture Company in Dunmurry. He was never convicted of this charge; the presiding judge stated that there was no evidence to support the assertion that Sands had taken part in the bombing.[14] After the bombing, Sands and at least five others were alleged to have been involved in a gun battle with the Royal Ulster Constabulary, although Sands was not convicted due to lack of evidence. Leaving behind two of their wounded friends, Seamus Martin and Gabriel Corbett, Sands, Joe McDonnell, Seamus Finucane, and Sean Lavery tried to escape in a car, but were apprehended. Later, one of the revolvers used in the attack was found in the car in which Sands had been travelling.[15] In 1977, prosecutors charged him with possession of the revolver from which bullets were fired at the RUC after the bombing. After his trial and conviction, Sands was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment within HM Prison Maze, also known as Long Kesh.[16]

In prison, Sands became a writer of both journalism and poetry, with work published in the Irish republican newspaper . In late 1980 Sands was chosen as Officer Commanding of the Provisional IRA prisoners in Long Kesh, succeeding Brendan Hughes who was participating in the first hunger strike.

Republican prisoners organised a series of protests seeking to regain their previous Special Category Status which would free them from some ordinary prison regulations. This began with the "" in 1976, in which the prisoners refused to wear prison uniform and wore blankets instead. In 1978, after a number of attacks on prisoners leaving their cells to "slop out" (i.e., empty their chamber pots), this escalated into the "dirty protest", wherein prisoners refused to wash and smeared the walls of their cells with excrement.[18]

While in prison Sands had several letters and articles published in the Republican paper An Phoblacht (en: ) under the pseudonym "Marcella". Other writings attributed to him are: Skylark Sing Your Lonely Song [19] and .[20] Sands also wrote the lyrics of "Back Home in Derry" and "McIlhatton", which were both later recorded by ; and he wrote "Sad Song For Susan" which was later recorded. The melody of "Back Home in Derry" was borrowed from Gordon Lightfoot's famous 1976 song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."

The sudden vacancy in a seat with a nationalist majority of about 5,000 was a valuable opportunity for Sands' supporters to unite the nationalist community behind their campaign.[9] Pressure not to split the vote led other nationalist parties, notably the Social Democratic and Labour Party, to withdraw, and Sands was nominated on the label "Anti H-Block / Armagh Political Prisoner". After a highly polarised campaign, Sands narrowly won the seat on 9 April 1981, with 30,493 votes to 29,046 for the candidate Harry West. Sands also became the so-called Baby of the House – the youngest MP at the time.[21] However Sands died in prison less than a month afterwards, without ever having taken his seat in the Commons.[22]

Following Sands' success, the British Government introduced the Representation of the People Act 1981 which prevents prisoners serving jail terms of more than one year in either the UK or the from being nominated as candidates in British elections.[23][24] This law was introduced to prevent the other hunger strikers from being elected to the British parliament.[25]

Sands died on 5 May 1981 in Maze prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27.[28] The original pathologist's report recorded the hunger strikers' causes of death as "self-imposed starvation", later amended to simply "starvation" after protests from the dead strikers' families.[29] The coroner recorded verdicts of "starvation, self-imposed".[29]

The announcement of Sands's death prompted several days of rioting in nationalist areas of Northern Ireland. A milkman, Eric Guiney, and his son, Desmond, died as a result of injuries sustained when their milk float crashed after being stoned by rioters in a predominantly nationalist area of north Belfast.[30][31] Over 100,000 people lined the route of Sands's funeral and he was buried in the 'New Republican Plot' alongside 76 others. Their grave is maintained and cared for by the National Graves Association, Belfast.[32] Sands was a Member of the Westminster Parliament for 25 days, though he never took his seat or the oath.

News of the death of Bobby Sands influenced the way in which political prisoners and the ANC in South Africa responded to their own situation, and inspired a new way of resistance.[36][37] Nelson Mandela was said to have been "directly influenced by Bobby Sands",[36] and instigated a successful hunger strike on Robben Island.

A number of political, religious, union and fund-raising institutions chose to honour Sands in the United States. The International Longshoremen's Association in New York announced a 24-hour boycott of British ships.[38][39] Over 1,000 people gathered in New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral to hear Cardinal Terence Cooke offer a Mass of reconciliation for Northern Ireland. Irish bars in the city were closed for two hours in mourning.[4] In Hartford, Connecticut a memorial was dedicated to Bobby Sands and the other hunger strikers in 1997, the only one of its kind in the United States. Set up by the Irish Northern Aid Committee and local Irish-Americans, it stands in a traffic circle known as Bobby Sands Circle at the bottom of Maple Avenue near Goodwin Park.[40]

The US media expressed a range of opinions on Sands's death. The Boston Globe commented that "[t]he slow suicide attempt of Bobby Sands has cast his land and his cause into another downward spiral of death and despair. There are no heroes in the saga of Bobby Sands."[41] The Chicago Tribune wrote that "Mahatma Gandhi used the hunger strike to move his countrymen to abstain from fratricide. Bobby Sands' deliberate slow suicide is intended to precipitate civil war. The former deserved veneration and influence. The latter would be viewed, in a reasonable world, not as a charismatic martyr but as a fanatical suicide, whose regrettable death provides no sufficient occasion for killing others."[42]

The New York Times wrote that "Britain's prime minister Thatcher is right in refusing to yield political status to Bobby Sands, the hunger striker," but that by appearing "unfeeling and unresponsive" the British Government was giving Sands "the crown of martyrdom."[43] The San Francisco Chronicle argued that political belief should not exempt activists from criminal law: "Terrorism goes far beyond the expression of political belief. And dealing with it does not allow for compromise as many countries of Western Europe and United States have learned. The bombing of bars, hotels, restaurants, robbing of banks, abductions, and killings of prominent figures are all criminal acts and must be dealt with by criminal law."[44] http://edufb.net/2649.pdf http://edufb.net/2516.pdf http://edufb.net/619.pdf http://edufb.net/2153.pdf http://edufb.net/37.pdf http://edufb.net/2386.pdf http://edufb.net/713.pdf