2004/06 and 2004/07, The Sovereign Nation (June/July 2004)

              32 county sovereignty movement publications he republican voice june - july 2004 hunger strike imminent - republicans react to worsening conditions a new republican hunger strike now appears to be imminent in maghaberry gaol in the coming weeks a number of pow's have already set a date to commence a hunger strike unless the northern ireland prison service nips and the prison officer's association poa relax their puni tive regime the regime in maghaberry at present is extremely restrictive with prisoners having little or no access to proper facilities such as showers can teen recreation or education even the most basic of facilities are being treated by the prison authori ties as privileges which they can use as a carrot or stick to make republicans behave1 the republicans prisoners were due to begin their hunger strike on the 1 st of june but were persuaded by the irish republican prisoners welfare association to postpone the strike and give a delegation some time to try and resolve the issues the prisoners agreed to allow a period of time for mediation by the irpwa but have stated that the amount of time is limited and set it has to be said " all assurances given to the > irpwa and the republican prisoners have been reneged on by a new nips leadership put in place to administer this new get tough policy with finlay's men as the muscle 	 . that the conditions on the republican wing could eas ily be rectified with minimum effort by the prison administration and that the demands of the prison ers do not in any way run contrary to the steele rec ommendations or endanger the security of the wing or its staff the current problems in the gaol date back to last september when after a period of consulta tion the steele commission set up by the british government to look at safety in maghaberry recom mended that republicans and loyalists should be segregated from each other the actions of republican prisoners during the summer of 00 and indeed their supporters on the outside und edly influenced the outcome of the commissions report the no-wash protest in the gaol and the high profile actions of the 32 county sovereignty movement and the irpwa on the streets left no-one in any doubt that this was a political issue and that these men were political prisoners the fact that peaceful republican resistance to the criminal ization policy had forced the british government into a de-facto recognition of the prisoners as pow's was not lost on the poa who voiced their opposition to segregation and vowed that there would be no return to the h blocks since segrega tion and out of the glare of the media the prison authorities have set about try ing to reverse the recommendations of the report the compact for separated prisoners drawn up by the nips was deliberately vague enough to allow for any eventuality the republican prisoners although rejecting the compact are now living with the conse quences of having the temerity to go up against the poa and the nips those consequences being the effective isolation of republicans on punishment blocks on moving to the new wing set aside for them in february republican prisoners discovered that despite the millions allegedly spent on it there finlay spratt - head of the poa were no facilities bar the most basic the irpwa on behalf of the prisoners were assured that although there would be teething problems the regime would settle down to something acceptable to all this has not happened all assurances given to the rp\a/a and the republn . ew nips lei new get tough policy with finlay's men as the mus cle recently the prisoners have had to endure almost total lockdown lack of recreation lack of education little or no association and constant aggressive and degrading strip searches they are currently refusing to shave or cut their hair due to the fact that they are expected to shave in the same sinks where they have to wash their dishes despite the presence of a brand new canteen when the men are allowed out they can either exercise or shower the men assume as does everyone that showers inevitably follow exercise prisoner's mail is constantly being delayed for weeks and the inci dences of harassment of visitors are increasing to levels not seen since segregation was conceded martin mulholland of the irpwa stated at maghaberry this week there is no doubt that the prison authorities are trying to create a crisis within the segregated accommodation in order to justify their initial opposition to it we also believe that they may try to call the prisoners bluff hoping they are not serious about their proposed course of action which is an extremely dangerous road for them to travel these men are determined to resist this degradation as are republicans on the outside and i would call on the nips poa and the nio to see sense before these minor matters become too major to resolve " mr mulholland concluded by stating that the irpwa intend to take this matter to the streets in the coming weeks there is no way we will allow the media and the authorities to pretend that this isn't happening glor na poblachta