Towards the end of last year, the Republican Socialist prisoners took the decision to leave the republican blocks and put in for a transfer to Maghaberry jail which had just opened the male section. This decision was not taken lightly nor was it taken alone but together with non-aligned political prisoners and the League for Communist Republicans.

For many years, Republican and Republican Socialist prisoners fought for their identity against Britain's criminalisation policy introduced in 1976 with the withdrawal of political status. They embarked on the blanket protest which led to the no-wash protest and culminated in the Hunger Strikes of 1980 and 1981 when 10 prisoners died. In all these prison protests the Republican Socialist prisoners participated fully and three of our volunteers, Patsy O'Hara, Kevin Lynch and Micky Devine, gave their lives on hunger strike.

Since the Hunger Strikes, and with the partial implementation of the five demands, the situation inside the republican blocks changed. The Republican movement embarked on a campaign of undermining our movement, they would not recognise our structure inside, wings were not run democratically but were run by the IRA prisoners, our prisoners had no say in decisions taken. Verbal abuse was often used towards our prisoners and hostile attitudes were adopted by many IRA prisoners. The sole purpose of this strategy was to force our prisoners to give up their political identity and come under the authority of the IRA. In tandem with this was an identical policy pursued on the outside, the removal of Green Gross which caused demoralisation amongst the Republican Socialist movement, the calling for the disbandment of the movement when we were under physical attack from counter-revolutionaries, and culminating in the refusal to share the same platform with the IRSP.

After much discussion amongst themselves and with other prisoners who were experiencing the same hostility they decided that they had no alternative but to leave the republican wings. All the prisoners for transfer were put into one wing of H6. It was decided not to make this public at the time as they did not want opportunistic elements on the outside, like the Father Fauls, to use this as a means of undermining the struggle as a whole. Leaving the blocks was not done in order to undermine the republican structure nor to undermine the struggle but to assert the right of political prisoners to their own political identity.

Given NIO strategy towards the prisons, this transfer did not go as planned. Only some prisoners were transferred at first and it was made clear to them that the governor would not tolerate them organising politically. Maghaberry was to be a model prison for conforming prisoners (those who severed their links and had given up the struggle). As our prisoners did not fit into this category, it wasn't long before some of the prisoners were sent back to Long Kesh on flimsy excuses that they were trouble makers. It was obvious that Maghaberry was no longer a viable option. Those who were sent back were put back into H6 along with the other prisoners who had left the republican wings. A decision was then taken by all the prisoners concerned to maintain the wing in H6 and put pressure on the governor to open another wing for them as there were other prisoners wishing to transfer to H6. As yet this has not been resolved.

The main drawback to all of this is that when the rest of our prisoners left in Maghaberry prison put in for transfers back to Long Kesh H6, the NIO deliberately refused and sent them to Magilligan jail which is in Co. Derry. This was obviously a deliberate policy of separating our prisoners and attempting to disrupt the political organisation inside. The prisoners in Magilligan have requested transfers back to Long Kesh, but this has been denied for the moment. If the prisoners obtain another wing, they are hopeful that the rest of them will be transferred.

At present in H6, A wing, the 28 prisoners including our own prisoners have set up a wing committee to organise the everyday running of the wing, and feel they made the right decision. Our prisoners are now able to have a say in how the wing is run, they have preserved their political identity and are able to run their own party educationals with no pressure from other prisoners.

This was just a short summary of the situation at present in the jails in the six counties, but we hope it helps you to understand the reasons behind why our prisoners took the decisions that they did.