asked the Minister for Defence whether his attention has been called to the allegations of ill-treatment made recently by ex-prisoners from Arbour Hill Prison, and whether he will cause these allegations to be investigated.
Question.— Written Answer. - Ex-Prisoners' Allegations of III-treatment.
I have seen the allegations to which the Deputy refers. I have already caused a minute and careful investigation to be made into them, and am satisfied that the charges of ill-treatment are completely false.
During the months of June, July, August and September two groups of prisoners made demands which they were warned could not be conceded. They followed up these impossible demands by refusing to leave their cells, by refusing food for a few days, and in a few cases by attacking their guards.
The first group demanded among other concessions a wireless set and a swimming pool; the second group demanded a wireless set and food to be served to one of them by a prisoner nominated by him. The second group later withdrew the application for the wireless, but one of them refused to accept food for a few days, because he was not waited upon by his own nominee. The refusal to take exercise was started by the first group in the first week in June, but they gave it up after a few days; the second group unfortunately carried it on until the third week in October.
Since then the prisoners are accepting the prison conditions which were open to them all the time and are now taking exercise, receiving visits and writing letters in the normal way. During those months, however, the prisoners caused a lot of unnecessary hardships to themselves and trouble to the prison authorities, and all for concessions which neither themselves nor their friends outside believed to be justified. This is proved by letters which I shall quote.
In addition to refusing exercise a number of prisoners barricaded themselves on two occasions in their cells. Towards the end of the period, when the prisoners saw they were getting nowhere with their stay-in strike, some of them became violent and assaulted their guards, with the result that a couple of the prisoners received minor bruises, and two of the guards were so injured that one of them was on sick leave for a fortnight, and the other for three days. Some of the prisoners were found to have sharpened table-knives into the form of daggers, and consequently as a precaution all the prisoners participating in the trouble were deprived of their knives. The minimum of force was used where resistance was offered. The most violent of the prisoners were punished by the forfeiture of remission of sentence which can be earned by good conduct, and two of them were given bread and water for three days. All the prisoners who used their cell furniture to barricade their cells were deprived of furniture, with the exception of bedding, for one month.
The complete artificiality of the recent troubles in Arbour Hill and the deception of the general public which is being attempted by those outside who call themselves friends of the prisoners is, perhaps, best indicated in the prisoners' own words. The following are extracts from a prisoner's letter dated 3/6/35:—
"...Hoping this finds you and Mrs. —— and all at H.Q. in good health the same apply to all in here.
"But on the other hand all is not well as our leader, Mr. —— is continually drifting from one trouble to another.
"The latest has now started on Thursday. Number one is, and you will be surprised to hear of it, that he is working under the orders of the so-called leader of I.R.A. prisoners, ———, the name must be fresh in your memory since the meeting in ———. And it is known to all of us in here that Mr. —— and the name mentioned spend hours together in concultons the result of those meetings has placed us in a very critical position. We have now received orders which is as follows:— receive no visits, write no letters do nothing regarding the general cleaness of the prison, do no washing, clean no lavatorys, draw no coal and to say all, do nothing.
"This is a protest brought about by the so-called I.R.A. and Mr.—— has stood in with them in this demand and is playing up to them...
"I would ask you in the interests of organisation and its members in here and of those who will have to come in that this man, Mr. —— be relieved of the position of our leader at once, and some one with a little brains be put at the head of us in here...
"These are the demands made:— (1) is a radio set to be installed in here, (2) the daily papers every day, (3) a swimming pool, (1) a handball alley in the compound; are these demands made by any sane man.
"I understand if these are not granted within two days, which expire to-day, drastic action is to be taken."
The following are extracts from a letter written by another prisoner, dated 17/9/35:—
"...We were forced into this rather `unconventional' protest by the exigencies of the situation here. Unfortunately the way things developed a large number of the men here presented me with an ultimatum that unless I ordered all men to stay in cells—tantamount to an order to refuse food—they themselves would go on `strike' indefinitely in sympathy with me. Needless to say, I didn't want this kind of `sympathy'...
"In order, however, to avoid the spectacle of some of the men going on hunger strike for an indefinite period, i.e., till I came off it, I compromised on the thing and agreed to a strike for not longer than four days or, rather to an order to the men not to remove the barricades of their cells for four days. I exempted certain men due for release. Everything went off well but without any change in the position...
"With regard to the `suggestion' that the present methods should be discontinued, I must claim that by virtue of my being on the spot, I am the most competent judge? In any event the vast majority of the men would take an order to go on exercise now very badly, their attitude is that having stuck this confinement for 16 weeks, they must stick it to the end. I know, of course, that H.Q. only suggested the calling off of the protest. Suggestion or otherwise, however, it must continue now to the end. Particularly on the `recognition' end, any concession on the parcels issue would satisfy their pride...
"...You know that my views on this thing are not so definite (parcels and other privileges) as ——'s but I feel that the men who have started and carried on before I came here are entitled to have their views considered. The actual confinement itself is no great discomfort to me, personally, as it gives me a certain seclusion and privacy that I would not otherwise have..."
The following are the conditions available to the prisoners in Arbour Hill:—
1. Food.—Same as for serving soldier, and in addition a supper consisting of ½ pint milk, 4 ozs. bread, 1 oz. butter, and also allowed to purchase food.
2. Clothes.—Allowed to wear their own clothes and boots and get in all the clothes they want, and as occasion arises a prisoner in need of any article of clothing is supplied with same at the discretion of the Governor.
3. Books.—Allowed the books in library and allowed to purchase books.
4. Tobacco.—Allowed to smoke at all times and purchase tobacco and cigarettes.
5. Exercise—Free association and exercise from after breakfast until 9 p.m. in the summer period and 8 p.m. winter period except when at meals.
6. Education Classes.—Allowed classes under qualified teacher for 4 hours per day.
7. Visits.—At least one visit per month, and additional visits when necessary.
8. Letters.—Allowed to write one letter per week and to receive all letters addressed to them.
9. Games.—Handball, weight-throwing, table tennis, draughts, chess, cards, etc.
There are two large school rooms in which the prisoners can read and play games when classes are not on.
10. Laundry with basins and drying rack.
Baths—Shower, hot and cold water.
A large number of prisoners and ex-prisoners of all sorts availed themselves of these conditions during their term of imprisonment. I am glad to say that all the prisoners in Arbour Hill have been availing themselves of these conditions and have been behaving in a disciplined manner for the past two months.