The Maze Prison: A Hidden Story of Chaos, Anarchy and Politics

833 Pages·2018·22.25 MB·English

by  Tom Murtagh

Tom Murtagh OBE ended his long A must read for those interested
career in the Prison Service as an in the legacy of our troubled
“
past — Tom Murtagh restores the
Area Manager in HM Prison Service
balance, exposes the truth and
having been a Governor in England
gives a unique insight into the
and Ireland, including at The Maze
mind-set of the terrorist godfa-
during The Troubles. He is the author The Maze Prison thers incarcerated in The Maze”
of The Blantyre House Prison Aff air: A T The Rt Hon Sir Jeff rey Donaldson MP
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Lessons from a Modern-day Witch- i
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hunt (Waterside Press, 2007).
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to events as I recall them”
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The Maze Prison shows how an establishment built to hold those involved in terrorism, ya John Semple, Former Deputy Director
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atrocities, murder and allied crimes became a pawn in the partisan confl ict that was f of Operations, Northern Ireland Prison
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Northern Ireland. There followed a breakdown of norms, values and control as the last h Service
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of these shifted from Governors to Ministers, outside offi cials and even prisoners. This o
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led to the (often random) killing of prison offi cers and countless allegations, denials , A
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and obfuscations, as Prison Rules came into confl ict with claims to be treated as prison- a This is an important book”
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ers-of-war or be given Special Category status. A social document par excellence, this chr Phillip Wheatley, former Director,
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stark slant on The Troubles and Peace Process cuts through the propaganda and base as National Off ender Management Service
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politics to reveal the truth about the H-Blocks, hunger-strikes, escapes and power strug- d
gles. Based on actual records and personal accounts, it challenges myths and legends Po
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to warn how easily a community can descend into what the author calls anomie. An litn • Includes extensive accounts of the
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invaluable record of ‘One of the most dangerous prisons in the world’. s H-blocks, hunger-strikes, escapes,
power struggles and fl ashpoints.
• A stark slant on The Troubles and
Peace Process.
T • Covers the entire life of the prison.
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• Based on unparalleled research into
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offi cial and other records.

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Tom Murtagh OBE
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With a Foreword by Phillip Wheatley CB
WATERSIDE PRESS
Putt ing justice into words WATERSIDE PRESS
www.WatersidePress.co.uk

The Maze Prison
A Hidden Story of Chaos, Anarchy and Politics
Tom Murtagh OBE
Foreword Phillip Wheatley CB
WATERSIDE PRESS
The Maze Prison
A Hidden Story of Chaos, Anarchy and Politics
Tom Murtagh
ISBN 978-1-909976-50-4 (Paperback)
ISBN 978-1-909976-55-9 (Hardback)
ISBN 978-1-910979-47-1 (Epub ebook)
ISBN 978-1-910979-48-8 (Adobe ebook)
Copyright © 2018 This work is the copyright of Tom Murtagh. All intellectual property and
associated rights are hereby asserted and reserved by him in full compliance with UK, Euro-
pean and international law. No part of this book may be copied, reproduced, stored in any
retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, or in any language, including in
hard copy or via the internet, without the prior written permission of the publishers to whom
all such rights have been assigned worldwide.
Cover design © 2018 Waterside Press. Front cover: Aerial photo © Alamy; Archive photos;
Back cover hut door courtesy Public Records Office of Northern Ireland.
Main UK distributor Gardners Books, 1 Whittle Drive, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23
6QH. Tel: [phone]; [email protected]; www.gardners.com
North American distribution Ingram Book Company, One Ingram Blvd, La Vergne, TN
37086, USA. Tel: [phone]; [email protected]
Cataloguing-In-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book can be obtained from the
British Library.
Printed by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, United Kingdom.
e-book The Maze Prison: A Hidden Story of Chaos, Anarchy and Politics is available as an ebook
and also to subscribers of Myilibrary, Dawsonera, ebrary, and Ebscohost.
Published 2018 by
Waterside Press Ltd Telephone [phone]
Sherfield Gables E-mail [email protected]
Sherfield-on-Loddon Online catalogue WatersidePress.co.uk
Hook, Hampshire
United Kingdom RG27 0JG
Table of Contents
Copyright and publication details ii
Publisher’s note v
About the author vi
The author of the Foreword vii
Acknowledgements viii
Dedication ix
List of Illustrations x
Acronyms, abbreviations and other terminology xi
Foreword ............................................................................................xv
Map of The Maze Prison................................................................xviii
Preface ................................................................................................21
1 A Historical Backdrop .......................................................................31
2 Long Kesh..........................................................................................63
3 HMP The Maze: Special Category Status .........................................91
4 A Changing Control Dynamic ........................................................109
5 Murder, Escapes and Direct Political Intervention .......................121
6 Riot and Inferno ..............................................................................149
7 The Gardiner Report........................................................................183
8 H-Blocks and the Blanket Protest .................................................233
9 The Dirty Protest ............................................................................263
10 Cardinal Tomas O’Fiaich ...............................................................285
11 The First Hunger-strike (1980) .......................................................333
12 The Second Hunger-strike (1981) ...................................................377
13 Defeat Snatched from the Jaws of Victory .....................................479
14 The 1983 Mass Escape and the Hennessy Report ..........................529
15 Erosion of Staff Control in Segregated Wings ..............................595
16 Schism..............................................................................................623
The Maze Prison
17 Corruption and Murder .................................................................645
18 Descent into Chaos ..........................................................................671
19 Anomie .............................................................................................703
20 The Averill Escape ...........................................................................733
21 Anarchy ............................................................................................747
Epilogue 783
Bibliography 799
Index 803
iv
Publisher’s note
The views and opinions expressed in this book are those of the author
entirely and are not necessarily shared by the publisher. Readers should
draw their own conclusions about any claims made or facts and opin-
ions stated or reproduced, concerning which the possibility of alternative
narratives, descriptions, claims, suggestions, interpretations and subtle-
ties of terminology should be borne in mind.
v
About the author
Tom Murtagh OBE hails from the Republic of Ireland where he received
his early education before moving to London to pursue higher educa-
tion and join HM Prison Service (HMPS). He ended his almost 40
year career in prisons as an Area Manager for HMPS, having been a
Governor of several establishments in both HMPS and the Northern
Ireland Prison Service (NIPS). This included being Deputy Governor
of The Maze and its Head of Security during The Troubles. He is the
chair of the Northern Ireland Retired Prison Officers’ Fellowship and
author of The Blantyre House Prison Affair: Lessons from a Modern-day
Witch-hunt (Waterside Press, 2007).
vi
The author of the Foreword
Phillip Wheatley CB was Director General of the National Offender
Management Service for England and Wales (2008 to 2010) and, imme-
diately before this, Director General of HM Prison Service (from 2003);
and is also a former Non-Executive Director of the Northern Ireland
Prison Service. A pupil at Leeds Grammar School, he read law at Sheffield
University then, uniquely for a future leader of the service, worked as a
prison officer in several establishments before being appointed Governor
of Hull Prison in 1986. He was an Area Manager for HMPS before
moving to Prison Service Headquarters in 1992. Latterly he has worked
as a consultant in the private prisons sector.
vii
Acknowledgements
This narrative would not have been possible without the help of many
individuals who experienced the events described in the book at first-
hand while serving at different levels in The Maze Prison and at Prison
Service Headquarters. I am grateful to them for agreeing to re-live their
sometimes painful memories.
I have also greatly appreciated the help and courtesy of the staff at the
Linen Hall Library, Belfast, the Newspaper Archive of Belfast Central
Library, the Records and Information Management Team of the Northern
Ireland Prison Service and the various other organizations that assisted
me with information.
I am especially grateful to all the staff of the Public Records Office of
Northern Ireland for their help, patience and kindness during the long
months of research, especially John Rea and Noel Hutton on the issue
desk.
The help of my wife Frances during the research phase was invaluable
and I am grateful to her for her patience, understanding and support
throughout this project.
I am particularly grateful for the sage advice of Professor Graham Towl
and Patrick Maguire CBE in the final editing.
Photographs are courtesy of those credited within the book, who I
must also thank for their kind permissions to them being reproduced.
viii