Ang Moh Prison Riot NY eve 2010

Happy New Year to MSK!

Riot in ISD ASAP!

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article1023064.ece


Inmates riot at prison in England
AP
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Specialist prison officers line the perimeter fence to Ford Prison near Arundel, south England, after about 40 prisoners began a riot and set alight to parts of the open prison, according to the a Ministry of Justice official, on Saturday. Photo: AP.
Specialist prison officers line the perimeter fence to Ford Prison near Arundel, south England, after about 40 prisoners began a riot and set alight to parts of the open prison, according to the a Ministry of Justice official, on Saturday. Photo: AP.

LONDON Inmates at an English prison have smashed windows and set fires in a riot that began in the first hours of the new year.

The Ministry of Justice said about 40 inmates at Ford open prison near Arundel, 60 miles (95 kms) south of London, began the disturbance at around midnight.

The ministry said the prison?s staff retreated and specialist officers were called in to deal with the incident. There were no immediate reports of any injuries to staff or inmates.

Smoke could be seen rising from one prison building on Saturday morning.

The low security prison houses offenders with less than two years remaining on their sentences.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/1231/1224286544222.html

British wrote to relatives of prison protesters
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EAMON PHOENIX

THE BRITISH government of Margaret Thatcher made a determined effort to defuse the escalating dirty protest at the Maze and Armagh prisons in 1980 by sending ministerial letters to the next of kin of every protesting prisoner.

On April 17th, 1980, senior official JE Hannigan informed colleagues that he had met prisons minister Michael Alison to consider the regimes at the Maze and Armagh jails. Among his proposals was one that the minister should write directly to the families of the protesting prisoners in both prisons, “setting beyond doubt what facilities the regimes provide”.

Due publicity would be given to this letter and a parliamentary reply arranged at Westminster “as further proof” of the British government’s determination “to maintain humanitarian regimes”.

In Hannigan’s view, it was the British government’s aim to provide “a humanitarian regime in the prisons”, subject to “no concession on special category status and the insistence on normal prison discipline”.

However, the government’s next move should not be conditional upon the prisoners’ acceptance.

In the case of Armagh prison, where women had indulged in a limited dirty protest, the official felt that the regime there was more relaxed than at the Maze and he favoured a softening of the regime for the protesters.

This would involve allowing monthly food parcels and the phasing in of “closed visits” in response to the ongoing protest over “close body searches” at the jail. Such a step, he told Alison, would be a step towards maintaining “a humanitarian momentum”.

Hannigan suggested that the new strategy could be unveiled over a lunch with Cardinal Ó Fiaich and Bishop Edward Daly.

A note on the file reveals the secretary of state’s support for Hannigan’s approach. Regarding the introduction of closed visits, Hannigan states: “The close body search procedure used at the Maze is one of the most contentious issues associated with the [dirty] protest.”

It had been raised at successive meetings with the cardinal and bishop and with a deputation of relatives led by then SDLP leader John Hume.

In addition, “close searches” were among the matters currently before the European Commission of Human Rights, having been raised on behalf of four “dirty protesters”.

On April 30th, 1980, Atkins told MPs that the “dirty protest” prisoners had refused to accept the offer of additional visits or letters and the chance to take exercise in sports gear and suggested that some of the prisoners’ relatives had been misled by press reports about the new arrangements.

As a result, Alison wrote to the next of kin of every protesting prisoner in both jails acknowledging their natural concern about conditions in the prisons and outlining the new concessions. On exercise, the minister told relatives: “I have always been concerned about the prisoners’ refusal to take their daily exercise; this achieves nothing and is very much against their own best interests.”

The minister’s letter provoked a response from the H-Block Information Centre on the Falls Road dated May 5th, 1980, and signed by the former republican prisoner and first “blanket man” Kieran Nugent.

This described the government’s letter as “an attempt to split the relatives and the prisoners and . . . Mr Alison’s letter is the Brits’ way of fooling you. As two men who spent a total of six years with many of your [relatives] . . . we feel we are more qualified to speak about the real prison conditions than the British propagandist, Mr Alison.”