H-blocks visit

TRIP TO THE H-BLOCKS 3/8/06

As part of our continuing counselling service Abhaile Aris organised our third trip to the Blocks on Thursday the 3rd of August 06. There were 22 members of our Target group present made up of 8 Ex Prisoners their families and family members of other ex prisoners. Also present was a dedicated counsellor from Cunamh in Derry.

We left Letterkenny at 9am and arrived at the Kesh at 11-30. Linda who works for the First and Deputy First Minister greeted us. She gave us a warm welcome and outlined the route we would be taking on the tour.

We set off on the tour with the first stop being the old cages of Long Kesh were former Internees and those prisoners who had received Political Status had been housed during their imprisonment.

The cages were very open plan with large 2nd world war Nissan huts being used as the accommodation block in the centre of a large wire surrounded cage. The ex prisoners present were able to recount old stories of the time they were imprisoned and the names of old comrades and the crack they had, with all the old memories flooding back some of the stories were funny others sad but the resilience of the prisoners always shone through.

Our next stop off was one of the many Watch Towers dotted along the two-mile stretch of the exterior wall. Once up in the watch tower you can see the vastness of the site 360 acres in all made up of two prisons the cages and the Blocks and all their support buildings.

Next we visited the H-Blocks the stark comparison with the cages was very apparent closed in cells, high walls very oppressive surroundings with cameras everywhere bar and grilled gates small cells etc totally different to what we had just left behind us in the former cages.

Tony Kelly former prisoner Blanket man and escapee gave us a horrific account of everyday life in the Blocks with almost daily beatings deprivation, lack of exercise and contact with the outside world almost non-existent. Tony outlined how he was only 17 at the time of his arrest and imprisonment and the daily battles he had with his gaoler’s he spoke of how thy endured the No Wash protest and talked about the forced washes and the mirror search’s, and the beatings that happened when you did not comply.

We next went to the Hospital wing were the Ten Republican Hunger strikers of 1981 died. There was a very eerie silence here and I think all of us wanted to be alone with our thoughts especially those of us who had known some of the men and those amongst us who been imprisoned at that time.
It is hard to explain how one thought their was a mixture of emotions present from anger to compassion and of course our thoughts were with the families of the lads who had died and what they must have went through in the year of 81 and since.

The next building we entered was the security and administration centre for the camp. This is the building that monitored the everyday running of the camp with banks of TV monitors around its walls spying on every square foot of the Gaol.

Tony Kelly former prisoner and escapee recounted how in September 1983 38 prisoners escaped by taking over one of the H-Blocks H7 and hijacking the food lorry that was delivering their evening meal. They then set about driving out of the Blocks through the many gates and security checks along the way only to be detected at the last gate a story not to be missed and a testament to the men of the H-Blocks who despite years of torture and isolation where able to organise and execute the greatest escape in the western world from one of the most security tight prisons in the world.

On the way home I talked to those who where on the trip all enjoyed it very much and they all had mixed emotions, all were glad that they made the trip and the counsellor had a good talk with a few of them.

Gerry Mc Monagle
Outreach Worker