After being arrested in July 1976, Tommy McGinn spent 6 months on remand in Crumlin Road prison. On January 14th, 1977, he was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment. On January 15th he arrived in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh and immediately joined the "blanket protest" - refusing to wear prison uniform or do prison work.

At the time of his release in July of this year he was the longest-serving protest prisoner yet released, having spent 3 1/2 years on the blanket.

Q. What was the situation like when you began your protest in 1977?

A. At that time there were very few on the protest compared to now. I was in H1 at first, where I was kept in isolation. I was the only one in that wing on the protest but I had made up my mind to do it when I was on remand so I wasn't intimidated. There was never any question in my mind about going on the protest because I was charged with a political offence and saw myself as a political prisoner. There was a great deal of harrassment from the screws and prison authorities. I think they were trying to break the protest at an early stage. After a few weeks I was moved in with some other blanket men so there were about 19 or 20 of us together. Eventually all the protesting prisoners were moved into H5 because the protest was disrupting the prison routine too much.

Q. What was the situation when the "no wash" protest started in March 1978?

A. We had been driven to the stage where conditions couldn't get any worse. They had taken everything from us, we were being beaten, harrassed and intimidated and we reached a stage where the only form of protest left open to us was complete non co-operation.

Q. Could you tell us something about the medical conditions of the prisoners especially since the no wash protest started?

The vast majority of Blanketmen are suffering from some medical complaints. There are different kinds of skin complaints. I had a rash all over me most of the time and some are much worse than that. Vomiting, diaorrhea and that sort of thing are very common.

Q. What is morale like among the Blanketmen?

A. As the time goes by the prisoners seem to become more determined. They know they are political prisoners and they will never accept the "normal" prison regime.