between elements of the British left on Ireland, including differences between the allied PAC/ RCG and IMG/ SWP/ UTOM, see Hands off Ireland!, No. 6, January 1979, pp. 3–4.
52.An Phoblacht, 18 February 1978. UTOM split from TOM on 2 July 1977. Fight Racism! / Fight Imperialism!, September 1982, p. 11. For an RCG account see Diane Fox, ‘Building an anti-imperialist movement, resonant declarations v revolutionary propaganda’ in Hands off Ireland!, No. 3, November 1977, pp. 13–15.
53.An Phoblacht, 15 February 1978.
54.Republican News, 4 February 1978.
55.An Phoblacht, 8 February 1978.
56.Karen McElrath, Unsafe haven, The United States, The IRA and Political Prisoners (London, 2000), pp. 70–1 and Francie Broderick, Gerry Coleman, Peter Hegarty and Jack Kilroy (eds.) Where is Liberty?, The prosecution of Irish Republicans in the United States, Pamphlet (Ohio, 1995), p. 30.
57.Sr. Sarah Clarke, ‘Hugh Doherty’, Sr. Sarah Clarke Papers O Fiaich Library, Armagh (COFLA). Twenty-five charges against the Balcombe Street group were rejected by the jury and a murder charge in relation to the bombing of the Hilton Hotel was reduced to manslaughter when it was accepted that ‘police had failed to clear the hotel after 20 min[ute]s warning’. Ibid.
58.See Jackie Kaye, ‘Irish political prisoners in England’ in AP/RN, 26 May 1979 and John Higgins et al, Irish political prisoners in England, Special Category ‘A’, An account of prison life in England based on the experiences of Irish Republican John Higgins imprisoned between 1976 and 1979 (Dublin, 1980), pp. 70–1 and AP/RN, 13 May 1980. Hugh Doherty was in Leicester in January 1978 when solidarity notices were published in Belfast. Republican News, 7 January 1978. He had his books in Durham by July 1978 when Ray McLaughlin was sent in on a ‘lie down’ from Wakefield. Doherty left reading material in the recess area for McLaughlin to collect, including Vladimir Lenin’s Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism. Ray McLaughlin, Inside an English jail, The prison diary of the IRA Volunteer Raymond McLaughlin (Dublin, 1987), p. 44. Eddie Butler was moved to solitary confinement in Manchester prison in February 1978. IRIS, 12 January 1979.
59.Irish political prisoners, p. 71. Scotland’s only Special Unit at Barlinnie, Glasgow, was generally not used for the few IRA prisoners held in the separate jurisdiction during the Troubles. Ibid. Belfast republican Matthew ‘Gerry’ Ward, who received five years for IRA activities in Scotland, was released on 24 October 1975 having passed through Peterhead and Perth. Sr. Clarke, ‘Mathew ‘Gerry’ Ward’, Clarke Papers (COFLA).
60.Joe O’Connell, 7 June 2008.
61.Joe O’Connell, 7 June 2008.
62.Republican News, 24 March 1979 and AP/RN, 26 May 1979.
63.Irish political prisoners, p. 71.
64.Sr. Clarke, ‘Brendan Dowd’, Clarke Papers (COFLA). See also Jackie Kaye, ‘Irish political trials in England’ in Hands off Ireland!, No. 2, June 1977, pp. 2–4.
65.Michael Herbert, The wearing of the green, A political history of the Irish in Manchester (London, 2001), p. 164.
66.Hugh Doherty, 23 June 2006.
67.See ‘List of names found after IRA terrorist siege at Balcom[b]e Street’, December 1975, NAE, PREM 16/ 676. The Prison Department headquarters at 89 Eccleston Square was also listed. Ibid.
68.Eddie Butler, 21 December 2007.
69.Hugh Doherty, 23 June 2006. In Parkhurst SSU Joe O’Connell claimed: ‘You were in with the same people day after day, year after year. You were sort of fed up looking at each other. But we did get on fine. There were very few [problems] even with the English prisoners here was the odd falling out. Not too serious. There was the few serious falling out among the English prisoners that were in there. The pressure would get to them different ones’. Joe O’Connell, 7 June 2008.
70.Hugh Doherty, 23 June 2006.
71.Hugh Doherty, 23 June 2006.
72.Hugh Doherty, 23 June 2006. For H-Wing see Elaim Genders and Elaine Player, ‘Women Lifers: Assessing the experience’, The Prison Journal, 1990, Vol. 70, pp. 46–57.
73.Hugh Doherty, 23 June 2006.
74.Sr. Clarke, ‘Hugh Doherty’, Clarke Papers (COFLA).
75.Winnie Doherty, 7 June 2008. Doherty was assisted on her trips to prisons in the North of England by members of TOM. She was initially ‘a bit nervous of them because they were so English’ but later mused: ‘would we be so good to them?’ Ibid.
76.Guardian, 27 October 2014.
77.Shari-Jayne Boda, Real crime: four crimes that shocked a nation (London, 2003).
78.Pat Magee, ‘Comments on Leicester SSU’, MS, 19 December 1989, Private Collection (Pat Magee).
79.Eddie Butler, 21 December 2007.
80.Walmsley, Special Security Units, p. 34.
81.Joe O’Connell, 8 June 2008.
82.Tony Madigan, 7 March 2008.
83.Irish political prisoners, p. 82.
84.Leading republican Gerry Kelly stated: ‘We are as one with the ANC’. Gerry Kelly to the Editor, FRFI, May 1987.
