Maze (HM Prison)

HM Prison Maze (known colloqually as The H Blocks, Long Kesh or The Maze) is a disused prison sited at the former RAF station at Long Kesh (it is still called Long Kesh by many Irish Republicans) near Lisburn, nine miles outside Belfast, in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The name "Maze" is taken from the village of the same name near the prison. The prison and its inmates have played a prominent role in recent Irish history, notably in the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike. The prison was closed in 2000.

Background

Following the introduction of internment in 1971 there was "Operation Demetrius" with raids for 452 suspects on August 9, 1971. The police and army arrested 342 republicans, but key Irish Republican Army (IRA) members had been tipped off and many of those arrested were released when it emerged they had no paramilitary connections. Those behind Operation Demetrius were accused of bungling, by arresting many of the wrong people and using out of date information. Some loyalists were later arrested for balance. By 1972 there were 924 internees.

Related Topics:
Internment - 1971 - Operation Demetrius - August 9 - IRA - Paramilitary - Loyalist - 1972

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Initially the internees were housed, with different paramilitary groups separated from each other, in Nissen huts at a disused airfield that became the Long Kesh Detention Centre. The internees and their supporters agitated for improvements in their conditions and status; they saw themselves as political prisoners rather than common criminals. In 1974 William Whitelaw introduced Special Category Status for those sentenced for crimes relating to the civil violence. There were 1,100 Special Category prisoners at that time.

Related Topics:
Nissen hut - Political prisoner - 1974 - William Whitelaw

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"Special Category" status for convicted paramilitary-linked criminals gave them the same privileges previously available only to internees. These privileges included free association between prisoners, extra visits, food parcels and the right to wear their own clothes rather than prison uniforms (Crawford 1979).

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However, Special Category Status was short-lived. As part of the government's policy of "criminalisation" the new Secretary of State, Merlyn Rees, ended Special Category Status from March 1, 1976. Republicans convicted of offences after that date were housed in the eight new "H-Blocks" that had been constructed at Long Kesh, now officially HM Prison Maze. Older prisoners remained in separate compounds and retained their Special Category status.

Related Topics:
Merlyn Rees - March 1 - 1976

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