Special Category Status

In July 1972,William Whitelaw,theConservativeBritish government'sSecretary of State for Northern Ireland,grantedSpecial Category Status(SCS) to all prisoners serving sentences inNorthern IrelandforTroubles-related offences.This had been one of the conditions set by theProvisional Irish Republican Army(IRA) when they negotiated a meeting with the government to discuss a truce.

Special category (or "political" ) status wasde factoprisoner of war(POW) status, providing them with some of the privileges of POWs, such as those specified in theGeneva Conventions.This meant prisoners did not have to wearprison uniformsor do prison work, were housed within theirparamilitaryfactions, and were allowed extra visits and food parcels.

SCS was introduced in 1972 byWilliam Whitelawwhile serving asSecretary of State for Northern Ireland.That year, Whitelaw explained the status in theHouse of Commons,while denying that political status had been granted:

Certain convicted prisoners in Belfast Prison who are located separately from other inmates are now allowed to wear their own clothes. They will be allowed to receive at least one visit and a food parcel each week and to spend their own money in the prison canteen. Their allocation of letters will also be increased... I have made it perfectly clear that the status of political prisoner is not being granted. What has been granted is similar to the facilities provided in the Parkhurst and Leicester wings in this country.

In January 1975 theGardiner Committee,which looked at how the government should deal with "terrorism and subversion in Northern Ireland" in the "context of civil liberties and human rights", recommended the ending of SCS.It argued that SCS undermined the role of the prison authorities in maintaining discipline.

The government accepted the recommendation and on 1 March 1976, the newLabourSecretary of StateMerlyn Reesannounced the phasing out of SCS. Anyone convicted of ascheduled offenceafter March 1976 would be treated as an ordinary criminal and would have to wear aprison uniform,do prison work and serve their sentence in the newMaze Prison,in what became known as the H-Blocks. The response of some prisoners to this was violent, and six prison staff were killed in 1976 and 1977.

By late 1976, the new cellular prison accommodation recommended by Gardiner was ready to receive its first prisoners. In the week thatRoy Masontook over from Merlyn Rees as Secretary of State, the first prisoner sentenced under the new policy arrived at the Maze and was ordered to wear a prison uniform. He was IRAvolunteerKieran Nugent,who had recently been convicted ofhijackinga bus. Nugent refused to wear the uniform, saying he was not a criminal but apolitical prisoner.He was locked in his cell where he wrapped himself in the blanket that was on the bed rather than remain naked, beginning theblanket protest.This was the same action taken byold IRAprisoners in the south in the 1940s. By 1978, nearly 300Irish republicanprisoners were refusing to wear prison uniforms.

The protest was followed by the1981 hunger strikewhen ten republican prisoners starved themselves to death in the Maze. The privileges were gradually phased back in afterwards, with the core demands of protesting prisoners in place by early 1983.