PRONI ref: INF/7/A/8/17, External view of an H-Block, 1981. There was plenty of heartache and plenty of craic in that section of the jail Prisoner. So you had to get up at a certain time every morning, you had to have your bed pack made, you werent allowed to lie in your bed until a specific time in the afternoon and, you know, it was regimented like that. GiollaUidir / Wikipedia / (CC BY-SA 2.5) When Northern Ireland's Prime Minister Brian Faulkner commenced internment, known as Operation Demetrius, on August 9, 1971, he said the goal was stemming the violence "preventing any kind of normal life" in . The current prison governor testified that there are no plans to discipline the prison officers involved and the "case is closed" as far as he is concerned. They remained in use until 1988. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Three prison staff are being treated in hospital after rioting prisoners set fire to the Long Kesh Maze prison near Belfast. Gymnasium, 1981. These so-called patriots need to be exposed for the agents they are, and for their extensive links to British nazis and Loyalists. The former Maze Prison/Long Kesh in Lisburn, near Belfast, is one of the primary sites associated with the 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland. Numerous prison officers took part in the mistreatment of the returned escapees. [28] Robert Russell was extradited back to Northern Ireland in August 1988 after being captured in Dublin in 1984,[29][30] as was Paul Kane in April 1989. They organised themselves along military lines and exercised wide control over their respective H-Blocks. You had four huts which were in they had four huts which were in one compound, you had an ablutions block and a canteen area which we converted into a five a side area. 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. Prisoners received one half hour visit a week or, if on protest, one half hour visit a month. Football pitch, 1981. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. Aircraft hangars built for the Royal Air Force (RAF) station at Long Kesh, 1941-1946. [14] Officers arriving for work were entering the gatehouse from outside the prison, and each was ordered at gunpoint to join the other hostages. By this time the prisoners were struggling to maintain control in the gatehouse due to the number of hostages. This chapter examines Long Kesh/Maze prison within the context of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, with particular emphasis on its impact on society. Documentation of an attempted escape from a compound within Maze and Long Kesh Prison, 5 May 1976. [7], Nineteen IRA members escaped from Portlaoise Jail on 18 August 1974 after overpowering guards and using gelignite to blast through gates. INLAIrish National Liberation Army. WILLIAM 'PLUM' SMITH'S BOOK, Inside Man: Loyalists of Long Kesh - The Untold Story, gives a personal account of his imprisonment as a young man from the Shankill Road. 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. [31] In March 1990 the Supreme Court of Ireland in Dublin blocked the extradition of James Pius Clarke and Dermot Finucane on the grounds they "would be probable targets for ill-treatment by prison staff" if they were returned to prison in Northern Ireland. Their first act of defiance, initiated by Kieran Nugent, was to refuse to wear the prison uniforms, stating that convicted criminals, and not political prisoners, wear uniforms. There was ordinary prisoners serving the food out and there was a Newry man took exception to one of them because this prisoner was from Newry. And that was every morning I done 10 miles around here: 70 laps. Canteen facilities in an H Block, 1981. The H-Blocks, eight in total, first opened in 1976. How useful is the clip of William for an historian studying life in the cages/ compounds of Long Kesh? You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. [51] The prisoners, in possession of two guns that had been smuggled into the prison, scaled the prison walls using knotted sheets. Thirty-eight prisoners hijacked a prison meals lorry and smashed their way out. Loyalist Wing . PRONI Ref: RUC/12/39/1, I must say it was a happy, busy place, people all seemed to be enjoying what they were doing, it wasnt like slave labour Educator. [17] The site is now known as Balmoral Park. menu. Long Kesh. No disciplinary action was ever taken against the prison officers for their abuse of the prisoners in connection with the escape or for perjuring themselves. Archive of Steve Jensen Design www.stevejensen.design, It wasnt menial work, it was something that you learned a trade at Prisoner, Youd have walked up here and come up, by the football pitches, and up into the VTC Prisoner. 1 The first were internees. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for H Blocks : An Architecture of the Conflict in and about Northern Ireland by Louise Purbrick (2023, Hardcover) at the best online prices at eBay! None of the testifying prison officials knew whether any of the prison officers who participated in the abuse of the returned escapees or who perjured themselves are still employed at the Maze prison. The Conservative government led by Margaret Thatcher did not initially give in. your own Pins on Pinterest Outside the prison, in a major publicity coup, Sands was nominated for Parliament and won the Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election. The trouble started in Cage 13 where Malachy Cullen was cage O/C. play_arrow playlist_add rate it ! Opened in 1989, it was never used for regular services as it was deemed a security risk. PRONI ref: INF/7/A/8/19, Youd never stop the men going to their football match. [13] Prisoners had been planning the escape for several months. But the British government still resisted and on 5 May, after 66 days on hunger strike, Sands died. Play over 265 million tracks for free on SoundCloud. [14] At 4:05 pm the officers began to resist, and an officer pressed an alarm button. [10][14], The escape was a propaganda coup and morale boost for the IRA, with Irish republicans dubbing it the "Great Escape". D. Morley Camp O/C 4th Batt. 1972 was also witness to the renaming of the site as Maze Prison, although prisoners continued to refer to Long Kesh. 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. [9], The prisoners requested that showers be installed in their cells; and when this request was turned down, they refused to use the wash-hand basins. This was the location where ten men died during the 1981 hunger strike. The map shows both the cages and compounds and the H-blocks, and therefore dates from some time after 1976. 12.50 + 3.00 Postage. [13][15], Outside the prison the IRA had planned a logistical support operation involving 100 armed members,[16] but due to a miscalculation of five minutes, the prisoners found no transport waiting for them and were forced to flee across fields or hijack vehicles. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. In July 1972, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, William Whitelaw introduced Special Category Status for those sentenced for crimes relating to the civil violence. Now, the prison authorities referred to them as compounds but we as prisoners referred to them as cages., The prison officer would have came around 7.30, would have opened the door, would have came in and done a head count. In this year, political prisoners were also granted Special Category Status (which granted them privileges formerly available only to internees). Following the introduction of internment in August 1971, Long Kesh a disused WWII airfield near Lisburn, south of Belfast was used as an internment camp. This was in the townland of Maze, about nine miles (14km) southwest of Belfast. The Maze Prison Documentary - Our republican guide exchanged pleasantries with our new guide and I managed to . [12], HM Prison Maze was considered one of the most escape-proof prisons in Europe. Two escaped through the gate, one was captured exiting the car, and another was captured after being chased by a soldier. A place of incarceration and liberation, political debate and historical denial, the H Block cell units of Long Kesh/Maze prison in Northern Ireland housed members of both Republican and Loyalist military groups during The Troubles and are now considered icons of that conflict. LOYALIST MAZE PRISON ( LONG KESH ) HAND MADE WALLET, IN PERFECT UNUSED CONDITION , MEASURES 6 X 4 . This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. A multi-storey building, containing the emergency control room and various offices. In the biggest prison . One officer is being treated for a suspected fractured skull. Reproduced with the permission of the Deputy Keeper of the Records, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. Recorded in 2004. Two prisoners were recaptured, but the remaining seven managed to cross the border into the Republic of Ireland and appeared at a press conference in Dublin. Words were exchanged between Malachy and the screw while he was on a visit. And then we all had designated jobs. The Maze was actually pioneering the development of control rooms Prison Officer. The prisoner was taken away to solitary confinement, and rumours spread across the wing that the prisoner had been badly beaten. Her Majesty's Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as The Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house alleged paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from mid-1971 to mid-2000. Used for exercise and outdoor recreation by the prisoners. In December, the prisoners called off the hunger strike when the government appeared to concede to their demands. During the course of his extradition proceedings, he applied to the Minister of Justice in Ireland not to send him back because he feared being assaulted by the prison staff and members of the security forces. and U.D.A. Several prisoners brought actions for damages for their treatment following the escape. The incidences of cancer among republican prisoners involved in the revolt in Long Kesh have led many to believe that these illnesses and subsequent deaths can be linked to the British Army's use of CR gas . By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. 03. [13] Out of the remaining 19 escapees, 18 ended up in the republican stronghold of South Armagh where two members of the IRA's South Armagh Brigade were in charge of transporting them to safehouses,[21] and given the option of either returning to active service in the IRA's armed campaign or a job and new identity in the United States. https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/events/intern/docs/devlin.htm, http://www.epic.org.uk/images/custom/uploads/129/files/Prison-History.pdf. In the two years following the agreement, 428 prisoners were released. Each H-Block also had its own individual control room. In December 1997, IRA prisoner Liam Averill escaped dressed as a woman during a Christmas party for prisoners' children. [14] At 4:12 pm the alarm was raised when an officer in the gatehouse pushed the prisoner holding him hostage out of the room and telephoned the ECR. PRONI ref: INF/7/A/8/10, Audio-described tour of the Compounds / Cages at Maze and Long Kesh | PMA, Audio-described tour of the Hospital at Maze and Long Kesh | PMA, Audio-described tour of the H-Blocks at Maze and Long Kesh | PMA. Many of the escapees were rounded up and returned to the Maze immediately after the escape. It is estimated that 25,000 people were imprisoned in Northern Ireland over roughly 30 years of conflict. Running time: 25:19, CCEA GCSE History: Unit 1; Section B; Option 2: Changing Relations: Northern Ireland and its Neighbours, 19651998. The prisoner who fired the shot was captured after being shot and wounded by a soldier in a watch tower, and the other prisoner was captured after falling. Used in 1942 by Short Bros. to assemble and test-fly Stirling bombers. TabLyrics. The H-Block from which thirty-eight PIRA prisoners escaped by taking prisoner officers hostage and hijacking a food lorry, on 25 September 1983. The internees and their supporters agitated for improvements in their conditions and status; they saw themselves as political prisoners rather than common criminals. [55], The prison break was dramatised in the 2017 film Maze, written and directed by Stephen Burke, and starring Tom Vaughan-Lawlor and Barry Ward. You had the watch towers, the barbed wire, you had Nissen huts as the accommodation. There was plenty of heartache and plenty of craic in that section of the jail Prisoner. What do you think were some of the consequences of this segregation? IRA member Hugh Coney was shot dead by a sentry, 29 other prisoners were captured within a few yards of the prison and the remaining three were back in custody within 24 hours. You had the OC of the cage, then you had his staff, then you had the OC of every hut, you know. [2] On 17 January 1972, seven internees escaped from the prison ship HMS Maidstone by swimming to freedom, resulting in their being dubbed the "Magnificent Seven". And from then til lunch generally would have been your own free time, and that would have been taken up with a number of different things, people done classes, people studied, done degrees and stuff like that., In the cages you had no contact with the prison warders. Tiocfaidh r l (Irish pronunciation: [tki a la]) is an Irish language sentence which translates as "our day will come". Why do you think he described Long Kesh as a prisoner of war camp? Wright resumed his UVF activities around 1986 and became commander of its Mid-Ulster Brigade . Ulster Unionist Party UUP Election Political Poster Politics Vintage Original. The British government refused to back down. Originally, each wing had its own yard, with an air lock between adjacent yards. I jumped at the chance, especially as I was able to . 7. A red brick, multi-storey building within the prison complex. Dependent on the prisons population, each cell accommodated either one or two prisoners. The camp was divided into multiple compounds (also known as cages), each surrounded by razortopped wire fencing and containing multiple makeshift Nissen huts to accommodate the men. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. During the breakout, four prison officers were stabbed, including one, James Ferris, who died of a heart attack. All naked to the waist, just wearing the prison, the trousers from the prison uniform. In the biggest prison escape in UK history, 38 Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) prisoners escaped from H-Block 7 (H7) of the prison. William Smith was the first loyalist prisoner to be sent to Long Kesh, the precursor to the H-blocks of the Maze. Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary-linked prisoners gave them the same privileges previously available only to internees. But it was quick to put up, and it was sufficient for the demand at that time of the prison population. This article focuses on the controversial figure of Gusty Spence, who was key to the emergence of two artists from an Ulster Loyalist paramilitary background: George Morrow and Bobby Niblock, both of whom fell under Spence's guidance in Long Kesh/the Maze prison. One of the men was arrested in November 1973, aged 17, and brought to . The circle was an administration area, containing the control room of each H-Block. The existing research on the psychological impact of the Northern Ireland conflict for the prisoners shows that 70% of the ex-prisoners say that they experience poor or very poor emotional health. H-Block classroom, 1981. The cages/compounds were not only used to hold internees, however. There must have been over a hundred men, all with long, dirty, greasy hair, long beards some longer than others totally unkempt. Jul 8, 2019 - This Pin was discovered by Matthew Hillan. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. The other prisoners escaped over the fence, and by 4:18 pm the main gate was closed and the prison secured, after 35 prisoners had breached the prison perimeter. Gerard given Governor ground groups hand happening head heard hospital Hugh huts injuries internees John kicked knee Lagan Valley later Long Kesh Loyalist morning move night Northern Ireland period pitch present priest prison officers protest received Rees refused Republican returned riot . A place for discussions about Irish history. Cage Six was adjacent to a Loyalist Cage, and the only contact between the two was in the form of a little Loyalist black cat. Poster depicting the 1983 escape. Due to prison overcrowding, Long Kesh was also used for sentenced republican and loyalist prisoners from 1972. Abstract. The lorry driver was told the lorry was being used in the escape, and he was instructed what route to take and how to react if challenged. In Northern Ireland's Long Kesh prison in the late 1980s and 1990s, prisoners from each of the loyalist and republican groups painted highly politicized murals on the walls in their respective wings. [42] However, Tony McAllister was not granted a similar amnesty. Request PDF | Prison as a Liberated Zone: The Murals of Long Kesh, Northern Ireland | In Northern Ireland's Long Kesh prison in the late 1980s and 1990s, prisoners from each of the loyalist and . members. It was situated at the former Royal Air Force station of Long Kesh, on the outskirts of Lisburn.This was in the townland of Maze, about nine miles . Her Majesty's Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as The Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to September 2000. Due to prison overcrowding, Long Kesh was also used for sentenced republican and loyalist prisoners from 1972. Rosena Brown (Risn De Brn; born c.1945) is an Irish actress of television, cinema, and stage from Belfast, Northern Ireland who also served as an intelligence officer for the Provisional IRA. Ulster Unionist Party UUP Harry West Political Poster Irish British Original. The Maze Prison escape (known to Irish republicans as the Great Escape) took place on 25 September 1983 in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. As soon as Kane was handed over to the security forces at the Northern Ireland border, verbal abuse, including anti-Catholic remarks, began. Last week "Extreme" Republican Donal Billings was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment for a plot in which he intended to kill either the Queen or another member of the Royal family in 2011. On 13 December 1972, the overcrowding at Crumlin Road Prison was becoming so unmanageable that, to alleviate the pressure, it was now the turn of sentenced prisoners to be transferred to Long Kesh. By 1974 Long Kesh had extended greatly as there were now several Loyalist Cages containing both U.V.F. They crashed into another car near the gate and abandoned the car. Image courtesy Ulster Aviation Society. "Our day" is the date hoped for by Irish nationalists on which a united Ireland is achieved. Held in the 70s in the notorious Northern Irish jail known as The Maze, The H Blocks or Long Kesh, Ronan Bennett recalls the gas attacks, the beatings, the smell - and the jokes - and applauds . 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Granted Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary-linked prisoners gave them the same previously... Along military lines and exercised wide control over their respective H-Blocks and rumours spread across the wing that the was! Only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the men was arrested in 1973! The wing that the prisoner had been badly beaten May have an effect on your browsing experience the control..
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