close. Once put in a holding cell in Belfast, handcuffs were placed very tightly on his wrists and despite numerous requests, the handcuffs were not removed or loosened. Explain your answer, using the clip and your contextual knowledge. They organised themselves along military lines and exercised wide control over their respective H-Blocks. Archive of Steve Jensen Design www.stevejensen.design, 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. Following the introduction of internment in August 1971, Long Kesh a disused WW2 airfield near Lisburn, south of Belfast was used as an internment camp. Numerous prison officers took part in the mistreatment of the returned escapees. Two large football pitches were used on a rota system by the prisoners. Recorded in 2004. It is a slogan of Irish Republicanism. Upon their return to the Maze, prison officers kicked and punched the returned escapees and repeatedly called them "Fenian bastards." Prisoners received one half hour visit a week or, if on protest, one half hour visit a month. 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. During the summer of 2007, 17 years after I had been released on 'License', I was presented with the opportunity to return to the Maze/Long Kesh prison. [15], Discussion is still ongoing as to the listed status of sections of the old prison. menu. The map shows both the cages and compounds and the H-blocks, and therefore dates from some time after 1976. A place for discussions about Irish history. [2] Those behind Operation Demetrius were accused of bungling, by arresting many of the wrong people and using out-of-date information. MADE IN A TAN LEATHER WITH ULSTER EMBOSSED ON ONE SIDE AND PORTADOWN ON THE OTHER, INSIDE IS I [1] During the Troubles, Irish republican prisoners had escaped from custody en masse on several occasions. Get FREE shipping on H Blocks by Louise Purbrick, from wordery.com. The dogs bit several prisoners. PRONI ref: INF/7/A/8/19, Youd never stop the men going to their football match. In January 2006, the government unveiled a masterplan[14] for the site incorporating many of these proposals, including a 45,000 seat national multi-sport stadium for football, rugby and Gaelic games. In this year, political prisoners were also granted Special Category Status (which granted them privileges formerly available only to internees). Where various classes took place within the H-Block. Inside the prison, the prisoners took another step and organised a hunger strike. Wright resumed his UVF activities around 1986 and became commander of its Mid-Ulster Brigade . Due to prison overcrowding, Long Kesh was also used for sentenced republican and loyalist prisoners from 1972. "Our day" is the date hoped for by Irish nationalists on which a united Ireland is achieved. But the staff within the cages tended to, especially in the early days, I think it probably relaxed after the H-Blocks opened in 1976, when people realised that it was really going to be a long haul. There are now plans to turn the abandoned site into a national football stadium.". https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/events/intern/docs/devlin.htm, http://www.epic.org.uk/images/custom/uploads/129/files/Prison-History.pdf. On 17 November 1971, nine prisoners, dubbed the "Crumlin Kangaroos", escaped from Crumlin Road Jail when rope ladders were thrown over the wall. (A Red Hand Commando Volunteer returns to the Maze Prison and takes his 14 year old son with him). [42] However, Tony McAllister was not granted a similar amnesty. However, he said the officers involved had never been disciplined and there were no plans to do so. At this time two prison officers blocked the exit with their cars, forcing the prisoners to abandon the lorry and make their way to the outer fence which was 25 yards away. The former Maze Prison/Long Kesh in Lisburn, near Belfast, is one of the primary sites associated with the 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland. . Each H-Block was constructed in the shape of a H, with a central administrative area (known as the circle) and four wings of cells (A, B, C and D wings). A multi-storey building, containing the emergency control room and various offices. Area for washing, showering and disposal of overnight waste. In the biggest prison . This map was used by the prison staff for an overview of the entire site. More than 130 prisoners were injured in the trouble - nine needed hospital treatment. People are encouraged to write and send cards to the prisoners. There was no evidence that prisoners in the loyalist wing were similarly treated. 15. Location: Ireland . This incident was seen by a soldier on duty in a watch tower, who reported to the British Army operations room that he had seen prison officers fighting. It was also a deeply unpopular move among the loyalist community. It is estimated that 25,000 people were imprisoned in Northern Ireland over roughly 30 years of conflict. On 10 August 1984 loyalist prisoner Benjamin Redfern, a member of the Ulster Defence Association, attempted to escape from HM Prison Maze by hiding in the back of a refuse lorry, but died after being caught in the crushing mechanism. 1994)", "An Index of Deaths from the Conflict in Ireland", "Thirty years on, the Maze reveals a secret", "2 Irishmen Shoot Their Way Out of a Prison in London", "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 19 December 1994", "Inquiry over helicopter escape-plot at Whitemoor inquiry at Whitemoor", "Prisoners on the run are granted amnesty", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maze_Prison_escape&oldid=1137906462, This page was last edited on 7 February 2023, at 01:01. And basically you were simply left to your own devices. This is a part of the Maze that will be in my very bones til the day that I die Prison Officer, People often say jeez, how did you stay for five years in a cell this size? and I used to say well, the biggest thing was that I didnt spend that much time in this cell. I would get up sometimes and in my head I would go for a walk on the Black Mountain Prisoner, Dependent on the prisons population, each cell accommodated either one or two prisoners, This is where you got out and you had your wee talk where no one else could hear Prisoner. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. The prison wasnt built along the old lines, the Victorian lines, like the Crumlin Road. Used for exercise and outdoor recreation by the prisoners. [P] They burnt the canteen hut, it was burned to the ground. [6] The prisoners responded by refusing to leave their cells and, as a result, the prison officers were unable to clear them. 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. a loyalist ex-prisoner from the Shankhill Road. Mackin testified that while he was in the Crumlin Road prison before trial, he was treated differently from other prisoners in that every time an officer was killed, he would either be beaten in his cell or put in solitary confinement. This is my account of what happened during the burning of Long Kesh. These privileges included free association between prisoners, extra visits, food parcels and the right to wear their own clothes rather than prison 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. How useful is the clip of Larry and Paddy for an historian studying life in the cages/ compounds of Long Kesh? 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 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. HM Prison Maze (also known as Long Kesh) was a maximum security prison considered to be one of the most escape-proof prisons in Europe, and held prisoners convicted of taking part in armed paramilitary campaigns during the Troubles. In January 2013, plans were approved by the Northern Ireland environment minister Alex Attwood 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. It was later to be used for housing sentenced republican and loyalist prisoners from 1972 who were initially granted 'Special . Aircraft hangars built for the Royal Air Force (RAF) station at Long Kesh, 1941-1946. Although there were some variations across the compounds/ cages, they generally consisted of four Nissen huts which were designed to accommodate 80 men, with half of one hut serving as a dining/ recreational area. A man who planted a bomb on a bus during the Queen's visit to Ireland has gone on hunger strike in jail after clashing with the New IRA prison leadership. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. Using the clip of Seanna and your contextual knowledge, would you agree that the organisation and segregation within Long Kesh actually strengthened the individual political groupings? A large single storey building in which food was prepared for the prisoners. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. HM Prison Maze. [6][9] In March 1975, ten prisoners escaped from the courthouse in Newry while on trial for attempting to escape from Long Kesh. [2][3] On 31 October 1973, three leading IRA members, including former Chief of Staff Seamus Twomey, escaped from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin when a hijacked helicopter landed in the exercise yard of the prison. Following the introduction of internment in August 1971, Long Kesh a disused World War 2 airfield near Lisburn, south of Belfast was used as an internment camp. Not only were republicans and loyalists held in separate compounds/ cages, but so were the various organisations, including the UVF, UDA, Official IRA and Provisional IRA. Each wing was self-contained and contained 25 cells. Watch the clip of William. [12], During the 1980s, the British government slowly introduced changes, granting what some would see as political status in all but name. These so-called patriots need to be exposed for the agents they are, and for their extensive links to British nazis and Loyalists. D. Morley Camp O/C 4th Batt. 9. PRONI ref: INF/7/A/8/12. Not allowed their own clothes, they wrapped themselves in bedsheets. [14] At the main gate, a prison officer was shot in the leg while chasing the only two prisoners who had not yet reached the outer fence. TabLyrics. The Flames of Long Kesh, 15-16 October, 1974: And . By 1978, more than 300 men had joined the protest. Only one of the H-Blocks remains, alongside the prison . Poster depicting the 1983 escape. But the gate opened the other way. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. As soon as Kane was handed over to the security forces at the Northern Ireland border, verbal abuse, including anti-Catholic remarks, began. 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. INLAIrish National Liberation Army. 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. [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. 120.00 The H-Blocks, eight in total, first opened in 1976. Republicans outside the prison took the battle to the media and both sides fought for public support. In the middle-class suburbs of south Dublin, the political atmosphere that is transforming the North finds an unlikely convert in law student Kieran Conway. Introduction This paper marks an attempt to explore how identity was, and is, negotiated by two opposed groups at the shared site of Long Kesh/Maze prison, Northern Ireland. [6] The escapees included Larry Marley, who would later be one of the masterminds behind the 1983 escape. 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. The Maze Prison escape (known to Irish republicans as the Great Escape) took place on 25 September 1983 in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Also used as a recreation room and for religious services on a Sunday. This part of the site, adjacent to the Compounds / Cages, housed the army camp known as Silver City, and also staff lockers and accommodation for Compounds. Documentation of an attempted escape from a compound within Maze and Long Kesh Prison, 5 May 1976. 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. Free shipping for many products! 1972 was also witness to the renaming of the site as Maze Prison, although prisoners . It replaced portacabin visiting facilities that originally served the H-Blocks when they opened in 1976. By this time the prisoners were struggling to maintain control in the gatehouse due to the number of hostages. Because they were the first compounds that were built. The cages/compounds were segregated along political lines. It was militarily active until 1998. [35] In 2000 the British government withdrew extradition requests for Brennan, Artt and Kirby. On 27 October 1980, seven republican prisoners refused food and demanded political status. 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