SPECIAL CATEGORYFOR MAEVE
SPECIAL
CATEGORY
The IRA in English Prisons
Vol.2: 19781985
Run ODonnell
University of Limerick
I RISH A CADEMIC P RESS
First published in 2015 by Irish Academic Press
8 Chapel Lane
Sallins
Co. Kildare
Ireland
www.iap.ie
2015 Run ODonnell
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
An entry can be found on request
978 0 7165 3301 6 (paper)
978 0 7165 3302 3 (cloth)
978 07165 3303 0 (PDF)
978 0 7165 3316 0 (epub)
978 0 7165 3317 7 (mobi)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
An entry can be found on request
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved alone, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Printed in Ireland by Sprintprint Ltd.
Contents
Chapter 2: Gartree, Wormwood Scrubs and the Blanket
Protest in England
Chapter 5: The IRA in England and the 19801981
Hunger Strikes
Acknowledgements
I acknowledge and greatly appreciate the generous assistance of Eddie ONeill, Ann OSullivan, Siobhan Maguire, Mairin Shiels, Eila Moloney, Liam McCotter, John McComb, Jimmy Ashe and Con McFadden. Documentation and support was received from Eileen Shiels, Jackie Kaye, Maureen Maguire, Mairin Higgins, Billy Armstrong, Leo Wilson (RIP), An tAthair Piaras O Duill, Colm Moore, Gerry Cunningham, Seamus Mathuna, Tomas OMalley, Gerry Kelly, Mary Pearson, Aly Renwick, Jim McDonald, Kevin Dunphy, Pat Magee, Ronnie McCartney, Ella ODwyer, John McCluskey, Pat Hackett, John McCann, Deirdre OShea, Eddie and Rose Caughey, Tony Clarke, Eamon Nolan, Gerry McDonnell, Eddie Butler, Damian McComb, Labhras O Donnghaille, Jim Monaghan, Rose Dugdale, Deasun O Longain, Charlie Cunningham, John Fogarty (RIP), Paddy Ryan (RIP), Sean Smyth, Kathleen Horne (nee Doyle), Wally Heaton, Roy Walsh, Mary Walsh (RIP), Eoin Dougan, Irene McDonnell Cahill, Jack Cahill, Tony Coughlan, Muriel Sadlear, Anne Marie Whitaker and the staffs of the Linen Hall Library (Belfast), Cardinal Tomas O Fiaich Library (Armagh), Sinn Fin/Coiste na Iarchimini Archive (Dublin), National Archives of Ireland (Dublin), National Archives (London), Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (Belfast), Tamiment Library, (New York University), Glucksman University of Limerick Library, University of Villanova Library (Special Collections) and Hesburgh Library (University of Notre Dame, Indiana).
This series was otherwise aided by Criostoir de Baroid (Ciste Ceant Dunlaoi Teoranta, Corcaigh), Lisa Hyde, Jonathan Scherbel-Ball, Jim and Geraldine Donnelly, Fionntan McCotter, Jim Smyth, Marcas McCionnaigh, Sonja Tiernan, Glenn Rosswurm, Muiris OMeara (RIP), Chris Fox, Seamus Ashe, Micheal O hAodha, Padraig g O Ruairc, John OCallaghan, Adrian Cormican, Paul Hayes, John Mulqueen, Finbar Cullen, Brian McNally, Gay Clery, Shay Courtney (RIP), Mary Courtney, Geraldine Crawford, Leo Cooper (RIP), Rab Hunter, Charlie Cunningham, Geraldine Bailey, Paul Holmes, Gerry Mac Lochlainn, Ann Rossiter, Joe McKenny (RIP), Paul Norney, Hugh and Winnie Doherty, Joe and Mary Jamison, Rab Fryers, Gerry Mac Lochlainn, Francie Broderick, Aodh OLunney, Jack Kilroy, Mike Carty, Owen Rodgers, Jim Panaro, Norman Breslin, Charlie Rice (RIP), Jeff Leddin, Sean McKillen, Ger Maher, Gearoid Phelan, Sean O Murchada, Joe OHara, John Logan, John OBrennan, Charles Caulfield, John OConnor, Seamus Ashe, Nicky Cuddihy, Briona Nic Dhiarmada, Maire Durack, Jim Cullen, Mick Nolan, Conor Duffy, Catherine Kelly, Lorcan Collins, Rita OHare, Pat Doherty, David Yaffe, Bruce Sillner, Tam Brawley, Kathleen Dowley, Patrick Miller, David Granville, Gary OReilly, Charlene Vizzacherro, Joe Lennon, Lorcan Collins and Mary Elizebeth Bartholomew. Special thanks to all those who agreed to be interviewed and who entered into correspondence. As always, thanks to Maeve, Ruairi, Fiachra, Cormac and Saoirse ODonnell.
Run ODonnell
May 2015
Glossary
Activist: Person who directly engages in political campaigns
Active Service Unit: Cadre of IRA personnel
Adjudication: Disciplinary process in the Dispersal System
Adjutant-General: Second in command of the IRA
Allocation: Induction period following sentencing ahead of dispatch to main Dispersal System prison in England and Wales
An Cumann Cabhrach: Republican prisoners charity organization
Angry Brigade: Term applied to coterie of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh anarchists in 1970s Britain
Anti-Internment League: Coalition of non-violent political organizations opposed to internment without trial in Ireland from August 1971
Ard Chomhairle: Ruling body of Sinn Fin
Ard Fheis: Convention of Sinn Fin
Armley: Prison in Leeds
Army Council: Seven-person ruling body of the IRA
Army Executive: Twelve-person committee of the IRA under the Army Council
Association: Time permitted daily to prisoners for social and educational purposes
Association for Legal Justice: Civilian watchdog organization focussing on abuses of civil liberties in Ireland and the UK
Banged Up: Locked in a cell
Belfast Ten: Persons tried for March 1973 IRA attacks in London. Supported by the Belfast Ten Defence Committee, a legal and non-violent group with links to the Republican Movement
Birmingham Six: Persons wrongly convicted of November 1974 IRA attacks in Birmingham
Blanked: A prisoner ostracized by others
Blanket Protest: Wearing blankets or towels instead of prison uniform
Block: Section of a prison
Board of Visitors (BV): Prison committee dealing with disciplinary and general matters (aka Visiting Committee)
Bomb Squad: Police section dealing with subversive offences
Cabhair: Republican prisoners charity
Category A: Prisoners bearing the highest level of security rating in England and Wales.
CCDC: Central Citizens Defence Committee
Chief of Staff: Head of the IRA
Chiv: Improvised bladed or pointed weapon
Circle: Part of prison offering access between wings
Circuit: Frequent prison moves
Citizen Defence Committee: Unaligned civilian grouping in Belfast
and Derry which organized local defence of nationalist communities from 1969
Clann na hireann: Legal political organization representing the official republican movement in Britain
Clan na Gael: North American pro-republican organization
Closed Visit: A prison meeting in which family and friends are denied physical contact with the prisoner
Colour Party: Organized flag-carrying element of a republican march
Comm/ Communication: Slang for smuggled written information passed between republicans
Con/ Convict: Sentenced prisoner
Control Unit: Experimental segregation wings in Wakefield and Wormwood Scrubs
Connolly Association: Legal, non-violent, left wing, political organization of the Irish in Britain and their local allies
Cooler: Twenty-eight day period in segregation, generally involving prison shift
Coventry Six: Persons charged in connection with IRA activities in the British Midlands
