'''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 most 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 Those behind Operation Demetrius were accused of bungling, by arresting many of the wrong people and using out of date information.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.
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.
"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).
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.
==H-Blocks==
Republicans convicted of offences after March_1, 1976 were housed in the eight new "H-Blocks" that had been constructed at Long Kesh, now officially HM Prison Maze. As soon as prisoners were transferred to the new blocks they refused to conform, again arguing that they were not common criminals. Their first act of defiance was to refuse to wear the prison uniforms. Not allowed their own clothes, they wrapped themselves in bedsheets. Prisoners participating in that protest were "on the blanket". By 1978 more than 300 men had joined the protest. The British_government refused to yield, and after attacks on prisoners "slopping out" their chamber pots, they refused to leave their cells to wash and smeared their own excrement on the walls. But again the new 1979 government of Margaret_Thatcher stood firm.
===Hunger strike===
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 organized a Hunger_strike.
On October_27, 1980, seven Republican prisoners refused food and demanded political status. In December they called off the hunger strike when the government appeared to concede their demands. However, the government immediately reverted to their previous stance, confident the prisoners would not start another strike. Bobby_Sands, the leader of the Provisional_IRA prisoners, and a number of others began a second action on March_1, 1981. Outside the prison in a major publicity coup, Sands was nominated for Parliament and won the Fermanagh_&_South_Tyrone_by-election,_1981_(August). But the British government was still resisting and on May_5, after 66 days on hunger strike, Sands died. Another nine hunger strikers died by the end of August. More than 75,000 people attended Bobby Sands's funeral in Belfast.
===Breakout===
On September_23, 1983, the Maze suffered the largest break-out by prisoners from a British prison. 38 prisoners hijacked a prison meals lorry and smashed their way out. One prison officer, James Ferris, died of a heart attack while being held captive at knifepoint, and another five were injured. Nineteen of the prisoners were soon recaptured, but the remainder escaped. One of the escapees was later involved in the 1984 Brighton_hotel_bombing.
===Organisation===
Over 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 was killed in December 1997 by Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) prisoners. The LVF wing also saw the only rape in the prison's history.
==Peace process==
The prisoners also played a significant role in the Northern_Ireland_peace_process. On January_9, 1998, the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mo_Mowlam, paid a surprise visit to the prison to talk to members of the Ulster Defense Association/Ulster Freedom Fighters (UDA/UFF) including Johnny_Adair and Michael_Stone. They had voted for their political representatives to pull out of talks. Shortly after Mowlam's visit, they changed their minds, allowing their representatives to continue talks that would lead to the Good_Friday_Agreement of April_10, 1998. Afterwards, the prison was emptied of its paramilitary prisoners as the groups they represented agreed to the ceasefire. In the two years following the agreement, 428 prisoners were released. On September_29, 2000, the remaining 4 prisoners at Maze were transferred to other establishments in Northern Ireland and the Maze prison was closed.
==Future==
A monitoring group was set up on 14th January 2003 to debate the future of the 360 acre site. With close motorway and rail links, there are many proposals including a museum; a multi-purpose sports stadium and an office, hotel and leisure village. At the time of writing in late 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/3493587.stm, a feasability study is currently underway for a national multi-sport stadium for football, rugby and Gaelic Games. This proposal has raised concerns among sports fans, particularly Rugby and Football fans and online petitions such as the one at Stadium For Belfast have been created to run alongside fan surveys. More detailed information can be found on the official website.
==See also==
* 1981_Irish_Hunger_Strike
==References==
* Crawford, Colin. 1979. "Long Kesh: an alternative perspective."
==External links==
* Flickr: The Maze Prison - A group of photographers visited Maze Prison, here are there photos.
* BBC: Inside the Maze, a history
* Jonathan Glancey , ''New_Statesman'', May_31, 2004 Hell on earth
* Site photographs
Category:Prisons_in_the_United_Kingdom
Category:Defunct_prisons
Category:Northern_Ireland