Editing HM Prison Maze (section)

== H-Blocks ==

Prisoners convicted of [[Special Criminal Court#Scheduled offences|scheduled offences]] after 1 March 1976 were housed in the "H-Blocks" that had been newly constructed. Prisoners without Special Category Status began protesting for its return immediately after they were transferred to the H-Blocks. 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. Not allowed their own clothes, they wrapped themselves in bedsheets. Prisoners participating in the protest were "[[Blanket protest|on the blanket]]". By 1978, more than 300 men had joined the protest. The [[British government]] refused to back down.

In March 1978, some prisoners refused to leave their cells to shower or use the lavatory because they were being beaten when they did, and were provided with wash-hand basins in their cells.<ref name="mult">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=czdpQgAACAAJ |pages=351–352 |title=The Provisional IRA |isbn=9780552133371 |last1=Bishop |first1=Patrick |last2=Mallie |first2=Eamonn |year=1988 |publisher=Corgi |access-date=15 November 2019 |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803053107/https://books.google.com/books?id=czdpQgAACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F-qKAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT356 |page=356 |title=Brits: The War Against the IRA |isbn=9781408854921 |last1=Taylor |first1=Peter |date=29 May 2014 |publisher=Bloomsbury }}</ref> Prisoners "on the blanket" reported that one of the things that caused the most stress was "...waiting for the moment the cell door would open and they would be dragged out, naked and defenseless, and then pounded into semi-consciousness before being thrown back in again".<ref>{{Cite web|author=Guardian Staff|date=2008-10-21|title=Life and death in Long Kesh – a new film about the notorious Maze prison in Northern Ireland|url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/oct/22/maze-prison-film-northernireland-hunger|access-date=2021-06-30|website=the Guardian|language=en|archive-date=11 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711001215/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/oct/22/maze-prison-film-northernireland-hunger|url-status=live}}</ref>

Republican prisoners were also abused prior to and upon entering the Maze. Writing about the abuse of prisoners [[Queen's University Belfast]] academic Prof [[Phil Scraton]] stated: "...it is evident they endured unacceptable levels of physical and psychological punishment, violence and violation. Administered purposefully, without the checks and balances of state institutional accountability, it constituted cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment/ punishment within the UN General Assembly’s 1975 definition of torture."<ref>{{cite news |last=Morris |first=Allison |date=1 October 2020 |title=Republican prisoners subjected to inhuman treatment, report finds |url=https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2020/10/01/news/panel-report-on-long-term-impact-of-republican-prison-protests-2083574/ |work=The Irish News |location=Northern Ireland |access-date=15 February 2024}}</ref> In 1978, the British government was found guilty and censured by the [[European Court of Human Rights]] for "cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment in the interrogation procedures".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Some Examples of Human Rights Abuses in Northern Ireland: The Use of Plastic Bullets and Strip Searches of Women {{!}}|url=http://www.irishnationalcaucus.org/some-examples-of-human-rights-abuses-in-northern-ireland-the-use-of-plastic-bullets-and-strip-searches-of-women/|access-date=2021-06-30|archive-date=21 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210521172810/http://www.irishnationalcaucus.org/some-examples-of-human-rights-abuses-in-northern-ireland-the-use-of-plastic-bullets-and-strip-searches-of-women/|url-status=live}}</ref>

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.<ref name="mult"/> At the end of April 1978, a fight occurred between a prisoner and a prison officer in H-Block 6. The prisoner was taken away to [[solitary confinement]], and rumours spread across the wing that the prisoner had been badly beaten.<ref name="mult"/> The prisoners responded by smashing the furniture in their cells, forcing the prison authorities to remove the remaining furniture from the cells, leaving only blankets and mattresses.<ref name="mult"/> The prisoners responded by refusing to leave their cells and, as a result, the prison officers were unable to clear them. This resulted in the blanket protest escalating into the [[dirty protest]], as the prisoners would not leave their cells to "[[slop out]]" (i.e., empty their chamber pots), and started smearing excrement on the walls of their cells to "mitigate the spread of maggots".<ref name="mult"/>

===Hunger strike===
{{Main|1981 Irish hunger strike}}
[[File:h-block corridor.jpg|right|thumb|A view along the corridor of one of the wings of H4]]

Republicans outside the prison took the battle to the media and both sides fought for public support. Inside the prison, the prisoners took another step and organised a [[hunger strike]].

On 27 October 1980, seven republican prisoners refused food and demanded political status. The [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] government led by [[Margaret Thatcher]] did not initially give in. In December, the prisoners called off the hunger strike when the government appeared to concede to their demands. However, the government immediately reverted to their previous stance, in the belief that the prisoners would not start another strike. [[Bobby Sands]], the leader of the [[Provisional IRA]] prisoners, began a second action on 1 March 1981. Outside the prison, in a major publicity coup, Sands was nominated for Parliament and won the [[April 1981 Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election|Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election]]. But the British government still resisted and on 5 May, after 66 days on hunger strike, Sands died. More than 100,000 people attended Sands' funeral in [[Belfast]]. Another nine hunger strikers (members of both the IRA and the [[Irish National Liberation Army|INLA]]) died by the end of August before the hunger strike was called off in October.

===Breakouts and attempted breakouts===
{{See also|Maze Prison escape}}

On 25 September 1983, the Maze saw the biggest prison escape in British peacetime history. Thirty-eight prisoners hijacked a prison meals lorry and smashed their way out. During the breakout, four prison officers were stabbed, including one, James Ferris, who died of a heart attack. Another officer was shot in the head by [[Gerry Kelly]], and several other officers were injured by the escapees.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/25/newsid_2538000/2538295.stm |title=1983: Dozens escape in Maze break-out |work=[[BBC News]] |date=1983 |access-date=3 September 2008 |archive-date=23 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071223002518/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/25/newsid_2538000/2538295.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Nineteen of the prisoners were soon recaptured, but the other nineteen escaped.

In March 1997, an IRA escape attempt was foiled when a {{convert|40|ft|m|abbr=on}} tunnel was found. The tunnel led from H-Block 7 and was {{convert|80|ft|m|abbr=on}} short of the perimeter wall.

In December 1997, IRA prisoner [[Liam Averill]] escaped dressed as a woman during a [[Christmas]] party for prisoners' children.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/696991.stm|title=Re-arrest escaped IRA killer|work=[[BBC News]]|date=31 March 2000|access-date=25 July 2010|archive-date=9 August 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090809183836/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/696991.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1328098/Anger-as-fugitive-IRA-terrorists-are-given-their-freedom.html|title=Anger as fugitive IRA terrorists are given their freedom|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=28 March 2001|access-date=6 July 2011|archive-date=23 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123150805/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1328098/Anger-as-fugitive-IRA-terrorists-are-given-their-freedom.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Organisation===
During the 1980s, the British government slowly introduced changes, granting what some would see as political status in all but name. Republican and loyalist prisoners were housed according to group. They organised themselves along military lines and exercised wide control over their respective H-Blocks. The [[Loyalist Volunteer Force]] (LVF) leader [[Billy Wright (terrorist)|Billy Wright]] was shot dead in December 1997 by two [[Irish National Liberation Army]] (INLA) prisoners.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/sep/14/billy-wright-murder-report-maze | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Henry | last=McDonald | title=Billy Wright murder: father could take legal action | date=14 September 2010 | access-date=11 December 2016 | archive-date=30 July 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730021410/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/sep/14/billy-wright-murder-report-maze | url-status=live }}</ref>