Prison 'dirty protest' is echo of troubled past
DISSIDENT republicans engaged in a so-called "dirty protest" in Maghaberry prison have created "atrocious" conditions for prison staff over the last three months, according to the officers' representative body.
The 28 men involved have been throwing containers of urine, often mixed with excrement, over prison landings and, on occasion, aiming the urine at the prison officers.
Finlay Spratt, of the Prison Officers Association, said staff have no option but to wear protective clothing to combat the health hazard.
Mr Spratt said that as well as the "unbearable conditions" due to the protest, the officers are facing "threats and intimidation" from inmates.
"Our members face regular threats while they're on duty and it definitely has an effect on their well-being. They're having to put up with that, as well as the dirty protests taking place, and it really is a ridiculous state of affairs."
A number of commentators, politicians and prisoners' support groups have warned that "the story could end very badly indeed".
In scenes reminiscent of the H-Block protests 30 years ago, the republican prisoners are demanding a return to the regime enjoyed by the Maze prisoners in the years following the 1981 hunger strike.
Dissident republicans are currently held in Roe House at Maghaberry where they claim to be subjected to frequent strip searches they describe as "degrading".
The inmates also have issues regarding the lack of free association with other prisoners, interference with their food from people outside the wing, and long periods of being confined to their cells.
Although the 1981 hunger strike was seen as Margaret Thatcher successfully facing down the terrorists' demands, many concessions to prisoners were made in subsequent years.
By the time the Maze was finally closed in September 2000, prisoners controlled their own environment in the H-Blocks to the extent that prison officers reportedly waited to be "invited" onto each wing by the relevant paramilitary OC (officer commanding).
To date, prison authorities are refusing to bow to the desire of dissidents for history to repeat itself.
The current, more tightly-controlled regime at Roe House has resulted in prisoners being permitted to congregate only in small groups under the close supervision of prison staff, and to undergo frequent body searches.
Republican prisoner Liam Hannaway – a relative of Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams – ended a 42-day hunger strike at Maghaberry in May this year with supporters claiming that his demands to be moved out of the isolation wing had been met.
Separate legal actions are also ongoing relating to conditions at the prison.
Harry Fitzsimmons, from west Belfast, recently progressed his case for a judicial review to challenge the legality of the strip searches, and fellow prisoner Stephen O'Donnell will soon have a judicial review of his daily lock-down routine.
Several political commentators are beginning to express concern that the current protest could escalate with one – Eamonn McCann – making the ominous prediction that "this story could end very badly indeed".
In May this year, after dissidents damaged basins and toilets in their cells at Maghaberry, justice minister David Ford said: "This is the latest in a series of actions by a small number of prisoners, designed to form the impression that they are being mistreated."
The minister said they would not succeed in their campaign of violence and added: "They seem determined to create conditions which they will then complain about, but they will have no one to blame but themselves."
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Monday 28 May 2012
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