IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE ACTION REQUEST

June 21, 2006

IRISH REPUBLICAN PRISONERS ON PROTEST AT MAGHABERRY

On June 08 and June 09 2006, members of the Irish Freedom Committee met with Irish republican political prisoners interned at Roe House in Maghaberry prison in the Occupied North of Ireland, to hear allegations of skyrocketing human rights abuses inside the jail. Our representatives were presented with a shameful body of evidence on the desperate and worsening situation for dozens of Irish political prisoners at the facility maintained by a supposedly civilized government. Among the more blatant charges included evidence of a whole-scale system of judicial abuse leading to mass internment of political dissidents based on fabricated forensic evidence; ongoing evidence of blatantly racist treatment by an overtly loyalist prison staff; inhumane confinement conditions of up to 23 hours a day lockdown inside tiny and airless prison cells; rotten and spoilt food served regularly with a near total lack of fresh fruits and vegetables; hazardous and deadly exercise facilities including cramped and unventilated facilities infested with bird excrement; extreme abuse of full body and strip searches entailing frequent use of possibly radioactive X-Ray wands, and worse yet , extreme and malicious efforts to criminalize and intimidate family members who come to visit them.

On our visits on June 08-09 we were advised in confidence that protests were soon to commence in response to the litany of human rights abuses the men had been faces with in recent months. . We were told that all of the republican prisoners in the jail were united in strength on this issue and that things had gone far enough; that there was no more room to negotiate short of meeting brute force with united resistance. Sadly as of the past two days we are now witnessing the beginning of what may soon become a horrific repeat of history which does not bear thinking of-- the lives of many young Irish Republican prisoners-- Sons, fathers and husbands many of them-- in danger for their immediate survival in a protest for the most basic of human rights.

click for full IFC Maghaberry Report

Please write to the offices below TODAY to voice your concerns at the escalating situation at Maghaberry. Copy and paste text into a document and mail to the three offices listed below, or email.

MAGHABERRY PRISON
Mr. Alan Longwell - Governor
Upper Ballinderry Road
Lisburn, Co. Antrim
BT28 2PT

NORTHERN IRELAND OFFICE
Mr. Peter Hain - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Block B
Castle Buildings
Belfast BT4 3STGTN

NORTHERN IRELAND PRISON SERVICE
Mr. Robin Masefield - Director General
Room 321
Prison Service Headquarters
Dundonald House
Upper Newtownards Road
Belfast BT4 3SU

June 21, 2006

Dear Sir,

I am writing to voice my serious concern regarding the situation in Maghaberry Prison, where several republican political prisoners have commenced a protest to secure basic human rights. I am aware that this is the second time in the past three years that the republican prisoners at Roe House have found it necessary to undertake such extreme measures.

A June 08-09 2006 visit to Maghaberry by a delegation from the Irish Freedom Committee heard evidence from several republican political prisoners that conditions at the jail are at their worst in recent memory. Prisoners have told us that petitioning the prison governor has proved futile. Human rights recommendations by the 2003 Steele Review have taken too long to be implemented. Since their separation to Roe House 3+4 the republican prisoners have met with a full out punishment regime in response to the Steele Commission’s recommendations, and their families have been further isolated from them with restricted visiting procedures.

I am concerned that escalating human rights violations at Maghaberry are being ignored or censored from the media in order to drive these men to protest, leading to further recriminations and worsening punishment conditions.

Among the human rights violations I am gravely concerned with are:

- Forced 22-23 hours a day cell lockdown for republican prisoners.
- Meals must be taken in cells within inches of open toilet.
- Unsanitary and unhealthy exercise facilities in a tiny and crowded “bird cage” yard covered with bird excrement.
- Medical care available only one day a week.
- Unacceptable lack of fresh fruit and vegetables. Spoilt and rotten fruit served only five times a week.
- Lack of educational facilities – empty computer rooms for show only.
- Classes offered to men include yoga and hairdressing – no valid education.
- Families routinely refused visits by use of sniffer drugs dog despite prison’s own admission that drugs have never been found on republican prisoners or their families.
- Families repeatedly fingerprinted on visits up to five times in one visit.
- Frequent strip searches of up to a dozen times a day.
- Frequent use of possibly radioactive X-ray metal detector leading to complaints of back pains.
- Microphones and cameras throughout facilities including possibly in showers.

The lack of an official response to this litany of human rights abuses detailed to us by the republican prisoners indicate that there is a policy afoot to agitate these men for no reason and drive them to protest. I will continue to monitor this situation, and I remain concerned regarding these and other ongoing human rights abuses at Maghaberry Prison.

Many of us here in Irish-America remember, sadly and regretfully, the hunger strike twenty-five years ago that needlessly cost the lives of ten men. I strongly urge you to immediately address these conditions and prevent the situation at Maghaberry from taking a grievous turn for the worse.

Please advise. The favor of a reply is requested.

Thank you;

YOUR NAME/LOCATION HERE