Why are they smearing their own shit on the walls? One example: we cut to a man in the prison corridor. This map was used by the prison staff for an overview of the entire site. The film's producers and backers - Blast! HM Maze Prison, also known as Long Kesh and the H-Blocks, held some of the most dangerous men in Europe during its 30 year operation. A two-shot lasting 20 minutes or more, two intelligent men with wary mutual respect, but with opposing moral and political standpoints, squaring up, jabbing, neither able to land the knockout blow, the sadness of what will shortly unfold hanging over them (Walsh's dialogue here is pitch perfect). 03. All naked to the waist, just wearing the prison, the trousers from the prison uniform. The blanketmen endured beatings and abuse and squalor. All rights reserved. Spearheading a decades-long campaign to ferret out information and piece together the story of what happened at the time are former POWs Jim McCann, Joe Barnes and Joe Doherty. Focusing on the violence inflicted by republican and loyalist organisations, treating both as essentially apolitical and gangsterish, individual members were depicted as bullying cowards, inadequates, psychopaths, terminally moronic or as wanting out. The character is unknown to us and does not appear again. The Maze and Long Kesh overview map was supplied to PMA during filming in 2007. PRONI ref: INF/7/A/8/18. What audience do they serve? Research by the ex-POWs and others has established that CR gas was stockpiled and ready for use at Long Kesh. We headed in a wave back the way we came, through the door, shorter of breath, seeing less. The prisoners seized control of the interior of the camp as the prison warders retreated, leaving the protesting POWs to ignite what they could. Prisoners came and went, the repeating pattern of releases and arrests providing a constant turnover. 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. By Jude Collins on May 6, 2021 Cell 8 of the Maze Prison Hospital in which IRA member Bobby Sands died after 66 days on Hunger Strike. 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. In total, 22 compounds/ cages were constructed in Long Kesh. There are now plans to turn the abandoned site into a national football stadium.. Located in front of the main entrance to an H-Block, it was accessible to vehicles. Borrow. In later years, adjacent yards were combined. 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. It was in the last throes of the fighting that the British Army unleashed what many believe to have been CR gas. You had the OC of the cage, then you had his staff, then you had the OC of every hut, you know. (modern). When he was sent to the Long Kesh/Maze prison he refused to wear the prison uniform and adhere to the new regime. Questions of political as opposed to personal motivation go unexplored. There was a lot of noise and movement and I didn't know which way to run or what I was doing or what I was supposed to do. Posters, Prisoners and Political Struggle in Northern Ireland. Thu May 5 2016 - 12:48 While the Long Kesh/Maze prison was synonymous with protest and hostility, a quieter, more benevolent activity also took place within its walls. But, I do so because Steve McQueens Hunger is a breath-taking portrayal of a life-taking episode in the history of Maze prison. The prisoners also played a significant role in the Northern Ireland peace process. It was the largest high security prison in Europe and was both the tinderbox and the touchstone of political developments outside its walls. In this year, political prisoners were also granted Special Category Status (which granted them privileges formerly available only to internees). 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. It was in the last throes of the fighting, with about 350 prisoners making a last stand in the south-east corner of the playing fields, that the British Army unleashed what many believe to have been CR gas. There was a lot of noise and movement and I didn't know which way to run or what I was doing or what I was supposed to do. That was when you saw them really happy Educator, The physical instructor would have been, he would have been refereeing the match and done everything by the book Prisoner, There must have been over a hundred men, all with long, dirty, greasy hair, long beards some longer than others totally unkempt. 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. We probably didn't smell very good, but when everyone smells bad you don't notice so much. Existing prisoners remained in separate compounds and retained their Special Category Status with the last prisoner to hold this status being released in 1986. The set-piece battle would take place on the camps football pitches, located in the middle of the complex, as daylight broke on 16 October. Jim McCann and those other ex-POWs say the operation to use CR gas was authorised under guidelines codenamed Snowdrop. He wears a face mask. LOUISE PURBRICK is Senior Lecturer in the History of Art and Design at the University of Brighton, UK. THE BURNING of Long Kesh and the events of 15/16 October 1974 is one of the most significant events in the history of the conflict and republican prison struggle. [P] Thats what happened the first riot in Long Kesh, in cage 2. And then we all had designated jobs. The night of 15 October passed with the POWs having free rein but awaiting the inevitable confrontation with the British Army intent on retribution. The hospital contained both individual cells and small wards. The Conservative government led by Margaret Thatcher did not initially give in. PRONI ref: INF/7/A/8/21, Once a week youd maybe get out to the gym Prisoner, You could have played basketball, 5 a sides, volleyball, stuff like that Prisoner. Some prisoners changed from being Special Category Status prisoners to being common criminals. [12], During the 1980s, the British government slowly introduced changes, granting what some would see as political status in all but name. 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. Running time: 25:19, CCEA GCSE History: Unit 1; Section B; Option 2: Changing Relations: Northern Ireland and its Neighbours, 19651998. The British government refused to back down. Football pitch, 1981. [P] Oh straight in. 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".[16]. As a result of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, its prisoners were released and the prison finally closed down in 2000. Approximately 45 000 prisoners would be released temporarily and the rest, permanently. Aircraft hangars built for the Royal Air Force (RAF) station at Long Kesh, 1941-1946. The helicopter banked again into position and the next canister was dropped. PRONI ref: INF/7/A/8/19, Youd never stop the men going to their football match. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). In challenging the prison regime over the appalling conditions they were forced to endure, the POWs refused visits, destroyed beds and bedding, rejected prison food and existed on their parcels, and as a last resort staged mass hunger strikes. They had voted for their political representatives to pull out of talks. McConnell: HM Maze Prison, also known as Long Kesh and the H-Blocks, held some of the most dangerous men in Europe during its 30 year operation. (Source). It reflects the situation as of 1 December 2008. Some 1,371 CS gas canisters and grenades were used according to the British Armys own log, some dropped on the prisoners from the air. Long Kesh was also used for sentenced republican and loyalist prisoners from 1972. You will certainly see movies that you may enjoy more, but you will not see one as important or original as Hunger. So after a shower and stuff the compound would have come to life. Bobby Sands, the leader of the Provisional IRA prisoners, began a second action on 1 March 1981. The map shows both the cages and compounds and the H-blocks, and therefore dates from some time after 1976. In January 1988 we produced a conditions document, (SEE APPENDIX) a six page paper explaining our dissatisfaction with our conditions of existence and setting out a comprehensive range of proposals whose implementation would, we felt, transform the climate of confrontation and conflict within the prison. Concrete, barbed wire, corrugated iron, and, from coils of razor wire topping the cages, sheets and pillowcases . [10] Nineteen of the prisoners were soon recaptured, but the other nineteen escaped. Ive seen a few projects from Maze Prison the most well-known being that of Donovan Wylie and yet a few of McConnells images really stood out. All sides (there were more than two) were guilty of arrogance, obstinacy and extreme violence. A multi-storey building, containing the emergency control room and various offices. 01. This article was amended on Thursday October 23 2008. Are they bad? 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. There was plenty of heartache and plenty of craic in that section of the jail Prisoner. It held prisoners suspected of taking part in armed paramilitary campaigns during the Troubles, with separate wings for loyalists and for republicans. The guides include audio descriptions of the Hospital, the H-Blocks and the Compounds, accompanied by excerpts from participants. Piled them all against the gate. I do not know that I have ever seen a film as powerful, beautiful, haunting and individual as Hunger, Steve McQueen's movie about the dirty protest and the hunger strike. 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? Over a drink he told me that he'd recently talked to people who'd been in with Patsy O'Hara, the young but ferociously determined Derry lad I'd briefly known after the fire. [11] 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. Nugent refused to wear the prison garb and became the first "blanketman". The prisoners deployed cage by cage as units, armed with rudimentary weapons made from bedsteads and with other hastily-contrived batons. [P] They burnt the canteen hut, it was burned to the ground. In December, the prisoners called off the hunger strike when the government appeared to concede to their demands. A selection of clips from the archive exploring the theme from different perspectives. It's the violent desperation of a drowning man who will clutch at anything, even a child, even his own child. So originally in 1971 all the internee prisoners people who werent convicted through the normal courts, people who were interned without trial something like 300 prisoners were actually moved down here into compounds 2, 3 and 4, I believe, at the time. The compounds/ cages were segregated along political lines. They refused to wear the prison uniform and began a 'blanket protest', which later escalated into the 'dirty protest', as prisoners were not allowed to . The Maze was actually pioneering the development of control rooms Prison Officer. 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). Maze prison, also called Long Kesh or the Maze, prison located 10 miles (16 km) west of Belfast, N.Ire., that was a symbolic centre of the struggle between unionists and nationalists during the Troubles in Northern Ireland in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Give two reasons. Formerly a Royal Air Force Base, the 140 ha (350-acre) prison hosted thousands of prisoners during The Troubles, several of whom died during a hunger strike. Because they were the first compounds that were built. The circle was an administration area, containing the control room of each H-Block. By 1978, more than 300 men had joined the protest. Internment, used several times in Northern Ireland's short history, was reintroduced by its Stormont government on 9 August 1971 (McGuffin 1973). Most of us had had experience of CS gas before prison, on civil rights marches or in riots. Due to prison overcrowding, Long Kesh was also used for sentenced republican and loyalist prisoners from 1972. The tunnel led from H-Block 7 and was 80ft (24m) short of the perimeter wall. The Maze and its history are fascinating, discussion-worthy topics, but is it the case here that the images are nothing more than notable urban exploration? Borrow. Andrew McConnell was born in Northern Ireland in 1977 and began his career as a press photographer covering the closing stages of the conflict in his homeland and the transition to peace. Opened in 1989, it was never used for regular services as it was deemed a security risk. Despite British Government denials, it seems near certain that CR gas was used in Long Kesh. As the British Army controlled the perimeter of the camp with armed patrols there was no question that the burning was part of a wider attempt at a mass breakout. The helicopter followed patiently, so did the gas, and we doubled back again. According to their account, they helped Patsy into a shower stall and set him down on a chair because he was too weak to stand. Omissions? The prison population was divided along paramilitary lines, with each prisoner responsible to his commanding officer. As a result, the prison was the site of many protests and violent activities, including hunger strikes, mass escape attempts, and murder; it was considered by some to be a university of terror, where both unionist and nationalist prisoners learned how to commit deadlier terrorist offenses after their release. The terminology of the circle comes from Victorian prison design. Some was looking after the tea facilities and stuff like that, others was cleaning out the hut. [18], In April 2020, the former prison was reportedly under consideration for conversion into a temporary hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. 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. But in allowing him to emerge undiminished in body or spirit from the repeated rounds of assault by his guards and from his confrontation with Moran, and by giving his death such poignant resonance, Sands is allowed to achieve what few IRA movie characters have been. The cages/compounds were segregated along political lines. This area contained the Staff Club, the Governors lounge and accommodation, staff lockers and staff car park. On 27 October 1980, seven republican prisoners refused food and demanded political status. Lohan may have power in the prison, but his own life hangs precariously. A prefabricated building which received visitors and checked parcels. The Troubles of Northern Ireland are a very difficult topic for me to discuss; but not because I am close or emotionally compromised and not because I know or knew anyone involved. In the 1923 Irish hunger strikes thousands of Irish prisoners went on hunger strikes resulting in several deaths. The two football pitches in the middle of the vast prison complex were separated by a wire fence, in the midpoint of which was a gate the size of your front door. 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. These women, who used to surround him during his TV show, wore lots of makeup and little clothes as he preached creationism and conservative . He eats well, in ironic prefiguration of the starvation to come. When I've talked to men who were on the blanket, one of the things they agree caused most stress was waiting for the moment the cell door would open and they would be dragged out, naked and defenceless, and then pounded into semi-consciousness before being thrown back in again. The gas was so thick I tried to prise my throat open in an attempt to increase the air passage.. Chapel Plan. (You do not have to have republican or loyalist sympathies to understand the artistic limitations of such an approach.) The helicopter banked again into position and the next canister was dropped. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. The scene between Sands and Moran comes more or less in the middle of the film, when Sands has announced his intention to go on hunger strike and die if necessary. Films and Channel 4/Film4 in association with Northern Ireland Screen, Broadcasting Commission of Ireland and Wales Creative IP Fund - must get credit here. 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