Full Description
The Maze Prison shows how an establishment built to hold those involved in terrorism, atrocities, murder and allied crimes became a pawn in the partisan conflict that was Northern Ireland. There followed a breakdown of norms, values and control as the last of these shifted from Governors to Ministers, outside officials and even prisoners. This led to the (often random) killing of prison officers and countless allegations, denials and obfuscations, as Prison Rules came into conflict with claims to be treated as prisoners-of-war or be given Special Category status. A social document par excellence, this stark slant on The Troubles and Peace Process cuts through the propaganda and base politics to reveal the truth about the H-Blocks, hunger-strikes, escapes and power struggles. Based on actual records and personal accounts, it challenges myths and legends to warn how easily a community can descend into what the author calls anomie. An invaluable record of `one of the most dangerous prisons in the world'.
Contents
Foreword by Phillip Wheatley; Map of the Maze; Preface; 1.A Historical Backdrop; 2.Long Kesh; 3.HMP The Maze: Special Category Status; 4.A Changing Control Dynamic; 5.Murder, Escapes and Direct Political Intervention; 6.Riot and Inferno; 7.The Gardiner Report; 8.H-Blocks and the Blanket Protest; 9.The Dirty Protest; 10.Cardinal Tomas O'Fiaich; 11.The First Hunger-strike (1980); 12.The Second Hunger-strike (1981); 13.Defeat Snatched from the Jaws of Victory; 14.The 1983 Mass Escape and the Hennessy Report; 15.Erosion of Staff Control in Segregated Wings; 16.Schism; 17.Corruption and Murder; 18.Descent into Chaos; 19.Anomie; 20.The Averill Escape; 21.Anarchy; Epilogue; Bibliography; Index
