Republican Sinn Féin Cork City and County

The MacCurtáin/MacSuibhne Cumann - Corcaigh

Portlaoise Gaol
Portlaoise
Co. Laois
Éire

Maghaberry Prison
Old Road
Ballinderry Upper
Lisburn BT28 2PT
North of Ireland

Cabhair - Irish Republican Prisoners Dependants Fund

Cabhair is a charitable organisation, solely dependant on public subscriptions. It was established in early 1987, following the revolutionary / reformist split in the republican movement, for "the relief of cases of distress arising out of republican activity".

Immediately followimg the Ard-Fheis of Sinn Féin in 1986 when the Provisionals departed from the Republican road a number of Irish political prisoners in England, the Occupied Six Counties and the 26 County Free State adhered to the revolutionary path and refused to accept support from the Provisionals.

To meet this pressing need CABHAIR was formed and has continued with this noble work. Prisoners that they have cared for have been released on completion of sentence and others have gone to prison. At no time since 1987 have no prisoners been in CABHAIR's care. As long as British rule continues in Ireland, Irish people will resist that foreign occupation and, unfortunately, there will be political prisoners.

CABHAIR currently supports Republican prisoners in Portlaoise prison in the 26 County Free State and Maghaberry prison in the Six Occupied Counties.

AID APPEAL FOR REPUBLICAN PRISONERS

Donations can be sent to :  CABHAIR - Irish Republican Prisoners Dependants Fund 

                                                        223 Parnell Street,

                                                        Dublin 1.

                                                        Ireland.

        
Maghaberry Prison Leaflet                   Maghaberry Prison Poster

Conditions in Maghaberry are violation of human rights
27 Meitheamh / June 2010

Statement by the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton

On Sunday June 27 the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton and its Patron Ruairí Ó Brádaigh visited Maghaberry prison.

Despite assurances by the Northern Ireland Prison Service the Duty Governor failed to meet Des Dalton and Ruairí Ó Brádaigh. However they did meet with the OC of the Republican prisoners.

The purpose of the proposed meeting with the Duty Governor was to put forward the 5 demands of the Republican prisoners for political status as well as to highlight the internment of veteran Republican and political hostage Martin Corey.

Speaking at a rally held in support of the prisoners outside of Maghaberry following the visit and meeting Des Dalton said.

The conditions being endured by the Republican prisoners are a gross violation of even the most basic standards of human rights and are likely to have a detrimental effect on the health of the men. Republican Ireland stands by the POWs and the campaign for political status must be intensified to bring these conditions to an end.

By their actions the men in Maghaberry are not allowing themselves to be passive victims of the British state but instead are giving the lie to the normalisation of British occupation. The struggle of the Republican prisoners in Maghaberry proclaims to Ireland and the world that British rule in Ireland is neither normal nor acceptable.

The 5 demands of Republican prisoners must be met now.

POWs in Maghaberry commence dirty protest
21 June 2010

On June 21, 2010, the POW Department of Republican Sinn Féin once again highlighted the plight of the protesting Republican POWs in Roe House, Maghaberry jail, Co Antrim and a brief outline of the reasons for the protest:

The protesting Republican POWs in Roe House, Maghaberry jail, Co Antrim began a dirty protest on June 6. Their protest escalated when the prison authorities refused to implement an agreement made with the prisoners at Easter to address their concerns at the conditions.

On the contrary conditions have deteriorated still further despite the promises of the prison authorities. The Ombudsman's report
-www.niprisonservice.gov.uk/publications -- made many recommendations but it is unlikely that any of the recommendations will be implemented while the prison wardens run the jail.

In fact the ten prison wardens, suspended in the wake of the death by suicide of a prisoner in the mainstream prison in 2008, are to be reinstated, resulting in the announcement on June 17 of the resignation of the director-general of the Northern Ireland Prison Service for the last six years, Robin Masefield.

The POWs have for some time tried to resolve the problems which they saw as unacceptable. These included long lock-up from anything between 14 to 21 hours per day, especially at the weekends. The controlled movement operated at the jail meant that only three prisoners were out of their cells at any given time, which also contributed to the long lock-up. It further ensured that the men did not have communication with each other. Education facilities were practically nonexistent, and the general atmosphere, and indeed ethos, of the prison wardens was oppressive and restrictive designed to provoke confrontation.

Today the Republican prisoners are locked-down for 23 hours per day. There is an increase in strip-searching despite the long lock-up and lack of contact between the prisoners/visitors; education facilities are totally nonexistent; yard time, visits, meals and showers must now be taken within the one hour they are unlocked. Because of the controlled/restricted movement the men are lucky if they get a shower every five or six days.

They have no in-cell sanitation facilities in their cell. Having no water they are unable to wash or shave; they have not had their hair cut for some weeks. Many of them have sores around and in their mouths which leaves then very susceptible to infection. Their weight loss has been rapid and their sleeping pattern is seriously disrupted.

The ethos and attitude of the prison warders is even more vicious and they are in total control of the jail. They make the decisions and as there is no overall governor they have a free hand. Governors have tried to implement reforms but to no avail, the prison warders refuse to implement the changes.

On June 13 they stepped up their protest by embarking on a dirty protest. This protest means they are now using the floor and the walls of their cell to take their excrement and urine. They had been using juice cartons for their waste but these cartons are no longer available to them. The men, when asked to, are refusing to strip naked for the screws and be subjected to intimate body searches which often means they don't get their visits.

This situation cannot be allowed to continue and we call on people to register their protest by writing/contacting all media outlets and also and in particular those nationalist politicians who sit in Stormont claiming to speak for the prisoners. Far from acting in the interest of the prisoners, it is in the interests of these British paid politicians, Adams, McGuinness, O'Dowd etc, to make sure this prison protest is not given oxygen.

The last thing they want is to be reminded of the part they played in betraying all the 1980/81 hunger strikers by signing away the status they won by 10 deaths in 1981. These people are part and parcel of the British government which is standing over the conditions in Maghaberry. They draw their big salaries' and would indeed occupy the office of Minister of Justice in the partitionist Stormont had not the Unionists objected to such a deal. But the Provisionals backed David Ford for the position, a man who believes the prisoners are 'in a situation of their own making'.

The following communication was received from Maghaberry jail, June 16,
2010:

“After having exhausted every other avenue available to us, we the POWs have been forced to engage in a protest to bring about an end to the degrading and inhuman conditions we find ourselves being subjected to.

“Our protest began after Mass on Easter Sunday when we secured the recreation room and erected barricades to prevent the screws [prison warders] from gaining access. We held this position for two days with upwards of 200 screws plus RUC in riot gear taking up positions around the area we had seized.

“Prison officials (accepted in consultations) in which we agreed to hand back control with the understanding that within 48-hours further negotiations would take place within the aim of resolving our concerns. The prison service reneged on their promise of negotiations, to no surprise to ourselves.

“Since then we have refused to participate in degrading strip searches and have been covering the observation flaps on our cell doors. Since then we have wrecked our cells in response to the search team removing a POW to the boards, where he was handcuffed to a steel bed and had his clothing cut off.

“We then had to pour urine under our cell doors to get rid of it, as we
have been locked down for 23 hours a day.

“In our efforts to resolve the protest we have met with the prison governors and found them uninterested to discuss in any detail the issues concerning us. We have also met with seven delegations of the so-called Justice Committee, which comprises members of PSF [Provisional Sinn Féin] and the SDLP [Social and Democratic Labour Party]. A further meeting was held with the Prison Ombudsman but to no avail.

“Having once again exhausted all avenues to us we feel the option left to us is to step up our protest.

“We call upon our families, comrades and supporters to organise again and step up their efforts outside with protests, letter-writing campaigns, leaflet drops and all other appropriate actions to highlight our plight.

“We salute your efforts to date and know we can rely on you in the future. For our part, on Sunday, June 13, 1020 we will commence a Dirty Protest.

“PRO Republican POWs

“Maghaberry jail.”

RSF salute action of Republican prisoners
6ú Aibreán/April 2010

Statement by Republican Sinn Féin President Des Dalton

“Republican Sinn Féin salutes the actions of the Republican prisoners in Maghaberry on Easter Sunday and Monday (April 4/5). Their decisive action in seizing control of part of their wing within the prison exposes the ongoing denial by the British state of political status and basic human rights to political prisoners.

“The conditions endured by the prisoners include 23-hour lock-up, physical assault, strip searches and obstruction of visiting rights. The Republican prisoners have also been punished for wearing Easter Lilies – to commemorate the 1916 Rising and all those who have died for Irish freedom- while the British poppy is freely worn and sold in the prison each year.

“This campaign to criminalise the Republican prisoners by the British State has even extended to the families of the prisoners. In recent weeks visitors have been forced to endure humiliating searches in order to visit relatives and friends while the drug dogs have been used as a pretext to stop visits – this despite the fact that no drugs have ever been found on either a Republican prisoner or their visitors.

“Since 1917 22 Irish Republican have died on hunger strike to uphold the right of Republican prisoners to political status. In 1998 this hard fought for right was signed away under the terms of the Stormont Agreement. However the present generation of Republican prisoners in Maghaberry by their resolute action have given a clear signal that ‘England will not brand Ireland’s fight 800 years of crime’.”

Statement from Republican Prisoners, Maghabery jail
6ú Aibreán/April 2010

Over the past number of years, we the Republican Prisioners in Maghaberry have experienced a continual decline in conditions and a steady increase in oppressive tactics being adopted against ourselves,our families and visitors.

We have encountered a lack of willingness,concern and urgency in our efforts to deal with the system on issues of human rights and moral decency. And now we find ourselves in a position where we can only rely upon our own efforts to highlight the injustices we feel daily. Our concerns of late come with the removal of a Republican prisoner from our wing on the word of the RUC/PSNI with a bogus death threat. Despite guarantees given to the governor, he was still removed.

This curious development comes against a recent incident in which information containing the details of the former governor were planted in the cell occupied by a Republican prisoner. All this at a time when visitors to Republican prisoners are being strip-searched by the RUC/PSNI.

In recent times continuous lockdowns and loss of recreation are becoming more and more common. Searches have also been conducted on our families by the RUC. These lockdowns result in us being locked down in our cells for days at a time with no food, hot water and exercise, showers or contact with our families.

We, the POWs, have also witnessed the attitude of the screws becoming more aggressive with up to five assaults being carried out on Republican prisoners in the last 18 months, all resulted in Republican being charged with assault in an attempt by a corrupt prison regime to cover up what is happening.

The accumulative effect of these grievances and a lack of any other form of redress, lead us to concede the only way to stop these assaults and degrading treatment is protest.

Statement from Republican POWs, E1 Landing, Portlaoise jail.
23ú Eanáir/January 2010

We have moved into E1, E Block of the jail with all the other groups and we currently share one side of our landing with some non-aligned prisoenrs.

We have put in place structures to keep discipline and Republican ideals alive and well.

Today in conjunction with the picket held by the Republican Sinn Féin POW Department picket we are undertaking a 12-hour fast, from 8am to 8pm.

We would like to thank all of you for your support. Go raibh maith agaibh

Prisoners Maltreated in Maghaberry.
28 Iúil / July 2009

Last Sunday, a Republican Prisoner in Maghaberry Gaol (Brian McAllister) dislocated his shoulder. As he was in severe pain, he requested medical help. However, this request was initially refused. The prisoner was placed in a wheelchair and brought into a room. He was kept there for around an hour and warned that if he kept on complaining then a search squad would be sent in to sort him out.

Eventually a doctor was brought in. The doctor they sent, however, was an eye specialist and was therefore unable to help. After another three hours he was removed to a Belfast hospital.

Another prisoner (Damian McKenna) was recently due a legal visit. This was delayed for nearly two hours, and eventually he was permitted just five minutes to speak to his solicitor. The legal visit had been due to last for two hours. He was told that he would be charged with assault, and in total seven solicitors were escorted from the gaol.

Damian along with two others (Seán McConville and Gary Toman) have spent 27 months in Maghaberry Gaol awaiting trial.

Republican Sinn Féin demands and end to the vindictiveness on the part of the screws, and also an end to the all too common obscene lengths of remands without trial.

PoW Assaulted in Maghaberry Gaol.
5ú Meitheamh/ June 2009

A Republican prisoner has been seriously assaulted in his cell in Maghaberry Gaol on Wednesday, 3rd June. Screws conducting a cell-search entered his cell at around 9a.m. and sought to take a bottle of shampoo along with other items. When the prisoner enquired whether he was no longer entitled to shower whilst in gaol he was badly beaten, and his hands and legs were bound. He was then brought to the punishment block and kept there for a number of hours.

This follows reports that security has been tightened in Maghaberry over the course of the past two months.

Republican Sinn Féin have also learnt that the man, who is badly bruised as a result of his ordeal, is to be charged before the Governor of Maghaberry Gaol in the morning with assault.

The RUC and the screws have a long history within the Six Counties of assaulting people, and subsequently charging the injured party with assault. A spokesman for RSF asked whether “perhaps they could avoid injury to themselves if they weren't using Republicans as punch-bags?”

“Brutality against Republican prisoners is not a thing of the past. It continues unabated in Maghaberry Gaol,” he added.