Fortnight Publications Ltd.

Open the GatesAuthor(s): Bob CooperSource: Fortnight, No. 92 (Nov. 1, 1974), pp. 4-5Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25545199 .

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_^_ 4/F0RTN1GHT

Open The Gates

saysBob Cooper, Alliance Assemblyman for West Belfast, who was one of those

who visited Long Kesh immediately after the burning of the huts. He compares the

standards before and after the burning with those of men interned in 1798 and concludes that the Government has only itself to blame for the mess it is in. AUGUST 4th Our table excellent and improving. We have very fine

salmon twice or thrice a week, which are taken in our

view, at the distance of about 150 yards. Of other fish, both round and flat, we have great variety. Our beef, mutton, pork, veal, lamb, &c are remarkably good. Latterly, we have had plenty of garden stuffs and sallad

ing, and sometimes young ducks and peas?yesterday and today new potatoes. We have not wanted eggs and cold meat, at breakfast, a single day, since our arrival here. Our wine, porter, and ale, have been uniformly good. And, at supper, we have occasionally had very fine crabs and lobsters.

JUNE 23rd All our blankets, coverlets, curtains, &c scoured or

washed; and new sheets &c. ordered wherever the old were torn, or tattered.

N.B. We have clean bed linen, regularly, once a fort

night.

JUNE 30th I forgot to mention that, early in the Summer, he pro cured, from the Duke of Portland, liberty for us to exer cise in one of the outer appendages of the Fort, where the battlements are high enough for playing ball, or

rackets. It has a delightful sward, and contains some

acres, so that the young and active can indulge them selves in football, hurling, racing, leaping, &c. &c. &c. for six or seven hours, every day.

The inset passage from the Narrative of Dr. William Steel Dickson, the Presbyterian Minister, who was interned (or was it detained?) for 3!/2 years for alleged United Irishman activities in 1798, show a fairly stark contrast between

governmental attitudes on the treatment of internees then and now.

The government of that day did face up to some of the real questions facing an administration which resorts to internment. When such a policy of depriving of liberty, men

who are innocent in the eyes of the law, is introduced, it is incumbent on the government to ensure that the deprivation

of liberty is the only penalty which is suffered and that apart from that, conditions are made as tolerable as possible.

It is now over three years since internment was introduced and during most of that period, governments have been warned repeatedly of the explosive situation in the Maze unless conditions were radically improved. No-one made the

extravagant demand that the conditions applied to the internees in 1798 should be reproduced but the basic

problems which arise in the early stages when a huge institution is set up at short notice with little pre-planning remained. There was considerable excuse in the early days and while improvements took place over the three-year period, they were neither fast enough or radical enough to defuse the situation. The problems were initially those of food, laundry, educational facilities, and lack of consultation. After three years some of these problems had been dealt with but others were still not solved.

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Most of those who visited the Maze, however, and I have now been there on three general visits as opposed to other visits to individual prisoners or detainees, come away with the very strong impression that, while conditions needed to be improved, complaints about conditions were simply symptoms ofthe disease of frustration which had the whole

prison in its grip, but which took a particularly virulent form with the internees. It was noticeable that there was a stark contrast between how the convicted prisoners had been able to adjust to the conditions and how the detainees had adjusted. This was obviously because the prisoners knew the maximum period for which they could be confined and had fairly early settled down and accepted their fate. The detainees, on the other hand, had no such knowledge. One would find it difficult to imagine treatment more liable to cause insecurity, mental illness and total alienation from

society as the belief that one might be out with one's family enjoying a normal life the next day, or on the other hand, might be detained for a further five years.

The prison was dominated by this general atmosphere and it is simply nonsense for the Secretary of State to argue that since it was convicted prisoners who started the fire, it had nothing to do with internment. No-one. not even the staff, not even visitors for a single day, could escape this all

pervading atmosphere. What is to be done now? When I visited the Maze after

the burning, I was shocked at the magnitude of the job which had been done. With the exception of two Loyalist compounds, I don't think there was a single hut in any of the other compounds undamaged. The hospital, the kitchen and much of the administrative buildings had been

destroyed. The inmates were camping in conditions remi 1

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FRIDAY 1st NOVEMBER 1974/5_____J

niscent of films of the trenches in the First World War.

There was no heating, no lighting, shelter derived only from

polythene covers over some of the less damaged huts, no

medical treatment of the less seriously injured, who had not

been removed to hospital. The food was very basic and

inadequate in quality. No visits were allowed and, therefore, there was no way of countering the rumours and fears which

were widespread among the communities from which the

inmates come. In every respect, except one, there was a vast

deterioration from the times of my previous visits. The one

exception was in the morale of the detainees which was now

incredibly high. They still didn't know when they were going to get out, but "By God we have shown those who have

forgotten about us what we can do."

The first lesson must be that the Maze was simply tar too

large. It must not be rebuilt to house the same number of

people as were there before. The second lesson must be that it is an indictment of successive governments, that plans to

build a modern purpose built prison, have been so long delayed. It is no excuse to say that we don't want to sink

money into meeting temporary conditions. Even when all the trouble is over, there will still be a necessity for a modern

prison to replace the totally inadequate Victorian structure in Crumlin Road for normal non-political prisoners.

I do not believe, however, that no matter whether the will or the money are there, or not, it will be possible to provide conditions which can make internment tolerable. Successive

governments have been prepared to admit privately that the introduction of internment was the single most catastrophic

mistake made by any government in Northern Ireland over

the last five years. Successive governments, however, have

played with the problem but shied away from doing anything meaningful about it. The policy of releasing a few internees at a time while internment as an institution lasts

with all the emotional drive which it gives to the Provisional

IRA, is the worst of both worlds. I must admit also that while I have always opposed

internment since even before it was introduced, I also have tended to shy away from the problem of how it could be ended. I tended to react when asked if my opposition meant

opening the gates of Long Kesh and letting every internee out at once with arguments about gradual releases. I now

believe that ending internment means opening the gates and

letting every one out at once as that is the only way to avoid

getting the worst of both worlds. Successive governments have placed often over-optimistic trust in the job which the various peace movements which have sprung up can do. I

believe that the only way in which the violent organisations will eventually be forced to call a halt is through the

strength of such movements. But such movements need a vital ingredient which has been missing from all of them to date and which can transform them from assemblies of the more committed Christians or pacifists into mass movements involving all of the people with the power to enforce peace. I believe that as far as the areas from which the Provisional IRA operate, are concerned, the only possible ingredient available which could perform this function would be the ending of internment.

The Gardiner Committee may well come up with amendments to the normal criminal law to render it more

effective. In any case, those who argue about its present ineffectiveness against terrorism very often forget that 80%

of those behind bars for alleged terrorist offences are there because of the operation of the Courts of Law. Only 20% are there because of internment.

The British Government has been very good at asking different sections of the Northern Ireland public to take risks. They have asked moderate people to stand up and be

counted in conditions which may mean death of oneself or

one's family. They have asked people in areas where the

para-military organisations operate, to give information.

They have asked Ulstermen to become Prison Officers.

They have asked Catholics to join the RUC and the UDR.

They have been less good at taking risks themselves. They have an opportunity now to take a risk and bring peace and end internment. When all the favourites have fallen,

backing the outsider is no risk. It is the policy which can succeed.

Housing

Homes Unfit for Heroes

The publication of the details 53???5=2S&rar? *-* I of the Housing Executive's ^^"^^

* I

survey of the condition of /jf^SS^ikm, I housing in Northern Ireland a

_m_r_WKy^^_h^ I month before it was officially Jfi_fffi\ IivSto^^ I due for release has caused little Unmufi \ 1 n Vw&KfiWW I embarrassment. Mr Concan- Uff* vWM^v^ I non, the responsible minister, ^^-?i p?^ P I has been pushed into promis- Di^ r^i 1 I ing a statement, and the formal ]~) m_K^S=H| I publication has probably been nT^) W_U^rf=^\ j advanced a little. But in its

UCj^B^^3 I essentials the report does no QT^'^MI CZ3CJ I

more than confirm what every- C*^~~^m^^~ I

one knew already, that there I has been a massive deterioration ofthe condition of many of

J our older houses in troubled areas. The important question I is not how many unfit and bricked up houses there are, but I

what is to be done about them. I . The figures themselves?the report in fact contains little I

more than statistical tables and a brief commentary?are I

depressing enough. The survey, based on a random sample I of one in five of the housing stock, gave a total of some I 89,200 unfit houses, which represents just short of of 20% of the total. Of these the majority are either privately rented or I

owner-occupied: 32% and 39% respectively. And to make J

matters worse many are seriously unfit on more than one of I the statutory criteria. The survey estimates that more than

J four-fifths of the total unfit houses require more than I ?1,000 worth of repairs to make them fit. The worse areas, I as might be expected, are Belfast and the rural fringes of I

Tyrone, Fermanagh and South Down, though for different I reasons: Belfast has been more affected by the troubles, J

while the rural areas have suffered from years of inaction, j

On all the relevant criteria the situation is far worse than I

any other part ofthe United Kingdom. The only matter for J

congratulation is the fact that the Housing Executive has j

been so honest about the extent of the problem. A similar I

survey on a sample of 5,000 houses in the Republic has I

reported an unfitness rate of only 10%, which knowledge- J able observers regard as nothing but an official whitewash

J of a problem almost as serious as Northern Ireland's. I

The survey itself does not attempt to prescribe policies on j

what is to be done about the situation beyond making the J

obvious recommendation that more effort should be put I into repairing and rehabilitating those houses that are not I too far gone, and preventing creeping decay in troubled I areas (and areas affected by planning blight) from making I

matters even worse. But it seems likely that the government, I

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