Report on Republican Prisoners in English Jails

Belmarsh

There are five Republican Prisoners in Belmarsh Prison. In September `94 these prisoners attempted an escape from Whitemoor prison and have been in virtual solitary confinement ever since. Some of them were badly beaten after the escape and they were transferred from Whitemoor to Belmarsh some months later.

Both in Whitemoor and Belmarsh they have been subjected to a punitive regime of constant strip~searching, constant monitoring, sleep deprivation, closed visits, and lack of exercise, fresh air and medical treatment.

After a visit by Dr. Mary Alien in May of 1995 she stated that ``the ghastly and gaunt appearance of formerly healthy men caused in me feelings of revulsion. `` It is obvious that the prison authorities are using security considerations as an excuse to inflict punishment and to deny basic human rights to these men. A whole year later these men are in the same prison, subjected to the same treatment and will remain there until September when their trial for the escape will take place. Belmarsh is a remand prison, so after the trial they will be transferred to other prisons.

The one means of communication these prisoners had with their families was a weekly phone call of 7 to 10 minutes at a cost of £1 per minute. Recently this has been further restricted by a limit on the amount any prisoner can spend on phone cards. On Saturday 4th May one prisoner was prevented from lending his phone card to another. This resulted in a fracas and the prisoners were put in a strip cell which amounts to the withdrawal of all privileges. They were moved into a newly prepared extra secure unit even more repressive than previously.

Six months ago they started court proceedings for accumulated visits to the six counties. The case dragged on and according to Liam 0 Duibhir had been approved up to Ministerial level. The week after the Manchester bomb the men were informed by Michael Howard's office that permission for these Visits had been denied. They have two other cases pending. One is relating to ill-treatment and the other to closed visits. One prisoner, Dingus Magee, has been on protest in Belmarsh since last November. This means he is in the segregation block on dirty. protest. He has no visits, no exercise or other facilities and was hospitalised with pneumonia for two days over the Christmas period. He has stated that he will only come off the protest if recategorisation and open visits are introduced. He last saw his children on the 31st of August 1994.