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RESISTANCE, TRANSITION AND EXCLUSION: POLITICALLY MOTIVATED EX-PRISONERS AND CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION IN NORTHERN IRELAND

2004; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 16; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09546550490509991

1556-1836

Kieran McEvoy, Peter Shirlow, Karen McElrath,

Irish and British Studies

Abstract The landscape of political imprisonment in Northern Ireland was changed due to the general release and reintegration of politically motivated prisoners as part of the Belfast Agreement. This article reflects upon the post-prison experiences of former prisoners and their families, and in particular how the move from a resistant to a transitional framework has facilitated a greater openness and willingness amongs ex-prisoners to acknowledge the personal and familial problems related to incarceration. We also explore the ways in which ex-prisoners have attempted to deal with the continued social, political and civic exclusion which arises as a result of their conflict-related ‘criminal’ convictions. In the final section of the article, the authors further develop the move from a resistant to a transitional characterization of incarceration and its consequences. Notes 1 See, generally, Michael Von Tangen Page, Prisons, Peace and Terrorism (London: Macmillan 1998); Kieran McEvoy, ‘Prisoner Release and Conflict Resolution: International Lessons for Northern Ireland’, International Criminal Justice Review 8 (1998) pp.33–61; and ‘The Agreement, Prisoner Release and the Political Character of the Conflict’, Fordham International Law Journal 26/1 (1999) pp.145–81. 2 Accurate figures for total numbers imprisoned as a result of the conflict in Northern Ireland are notoriously difficult to construct. Republicans estimate that approximately 15,000 Republicans have been imprisoned during the conflict. See Coiste na N-Iarchimi http://www.coiste.ie 3 See, for example, An Tus Nua, The Cost of Imprisonment (Belfast: Upper Springfield Development Trust 1998); Tar Anall, Employment, Training and Further Education Opportunities Facing Republican Prisoners Released Before 1990 (Belfast: Tar Anall 2000); Féilim Ó hAdhmaill, Equal Citizenship for a New Society? An Analysis of the Training and Employment Opportunities for Republican Ex-Prisoners (Belfast: Coiste Na N-Iarchimi 2001); and John White, Loyalist Political Prisoners in Context: An Action Research Assessment (Belfast: Prisoners Aid and Post Conflict Resettlement Group 1998). Other research (including this study) has been conducted by academics with the cooperation of the prisoners’ groupings themselves. To view the original research report for this study see Peter Shirlow, The State They Are In: An Independent Evaluation (Belfast: University of Ulster Social Exclusion Research Unit 2001). See also Adrian Grounds and Ruth Jamieson, ‘No Sense of An Ending: Researching the Experience of Imprisonment and Release Amongst Republican Ex-Prisoners’, Theoretical Criminology 7/3 (2003) pp.347–62. Unlike the current study, the prisoners associated with the latter research were not aligned with the Provisional Irish Republican Army but rather were former prisoners who had either disassociated from mainstream Republicanism or had not previously belonged to that organization. 4 Shirlow (note 3). 5 See Coiste Na n-Iarchimi, Annual Report (Belfast: Coiste Na n-Iarchimi 2003). 6 The survey covered around 10 per cent of Republican ex-prisoners in North Belfast based upon group records. The survey was tested rigorously and was piloted on several occasions prior to the main body of research. A copy of the survey is available from the authors. Only 2 per cent of all those who were contacted refused to complete the survey. The respondents could either complete the survey with a surveyor in attendance or send it back anonymously. Only one person chose anonymity. 7 For an overview of both genres, see, for example, Donald Clemmer, The Prison Community (New York: Rinehart and Winston 1940, newer edition 1958); Gresham Sykes, The Society of Captives (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 1958); Erving Goffman, Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates (Garden City, New Jersey: Anchor 1961); Hans Toch (ed), Living in Prison: The Ecology of Survival (New York: Macmillan 1977); Edward Zamble and Frank Porporino, Coping, Behavior and Adaptation in Prison Inmates (New York: Springer-Verlag 1988); Kenneth Adams, ‘Adjusting to Prison Life’, Crime & Justice: A Review of Research 16 (1992) pp.275–359; and Roger Matthews, Doing Time: An Introduction to the Sociology of Imprisonment (London: Macmillan 1999). 8 See Lee Bukstel and P. Kilman, ‘Psychological Effects of Imprisonment on Confined Individuals’, Psychological Bulletin 88/2 (1980) pp.469–93; Adams (note 7); Jeanne Gibbs, ‘Environmental Congruence and Symptoms of Psychopathology: A Further Exploration of the Effects of Exposure to the Jail Environment’, Criminal Justice & Behavior 18 (1991) pp.351–74; and A. Sappington, ‘Relationship Among Prison Adjustment, Beliefs and Cognitive Coping Style’, International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 40/1 (1996) pp.54–62. 9 See Kieran McEvoy, Paramilitary Imprisonment in Northern Ireland (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2001) particularly Chapter 2. 10 See, for example, Bill Rolston and Mike Tomlinson, ‘Long Term Imprisonment in Northern Ireland: Psychological or Political Survival?’, in Bill Rolston and Mike Tomlinson (eds), The Expansion of European Prison Systems: Working Papers in European Criminology (Belfast: European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control 1986) pp.162–84; Padraig O'Malley, Biting at the Grave: The Irish Hunger Strikes and the Politics of Despair (Belfast: Blackstaff Press 1990); Brian Campbell, Laurence McKeown and Feilim O'Hagan, Nor Meekly Serve My Time: The H Block Struggle 1976–1981 (Belfast: Beyond the Pale Publications 1994); Bobby Sands, Writings from Prison (Cork: Mercier Press 1998); Jonathan Stevenson,We Wrecked the Place: Contemplating an End to the Northern Ireland Troubles (New York: The Free Press 1996); Danny Morrison, Then The Walls Came Down: A Prison Journal (Cork: Mercier Press 1999); and Laurence McKeown, Out of Time: Irish Republican Prisoners and Long Kesh (Belfast: Beyond the Pale 2001). 11 Stan Cohen and Laurie Taylor, Psychological Survival (Harmondsworth: Penguin 1972) p.131. 12 See, for example, Thomas Mathiesesen, Defences of the Weak (London: Tavistock 1965); Cohen and Taylor (note 11) and Escape Attempts: The Theory and Practice of Resistance to Everyday Life (London: Allen Lane 1976); Phil Scraton, Joe Sim and Paula Skidmore, Prisons Under Protest (Milton Keynes: Open University Press 1991); Richard Sparks, Anthony Bottoms and Will Hay, Prisons and the Problem of Order (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1996); Matthews (note 7). 13 See Fran Buntman, Robben Island and Prisoner Resistance to Apartheid: The Politics of Conviction (Cambridge, England and New York: Cambridge University Press 2003). 14 Clemmer (note 7, 1940). 15 Northern Ireland Prison Service, Annual Report of the Northern Ireland Prison Service (Belfast: HMSO 1996–97). 16 Tim Pat Coogan, On the Blanket: The H Block Story (Dublin: Ward River Press 1980); and David Beresford, Ten Men Dead (London: Grafton Books 1987). 17 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (London: Verso 1991). 18 For an overview of the managerial difficulties of dealing with groups of organized prisoners, see James Jacobs, Stateville: The Penitentiary in Mass Society (Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1977); John DiIulio, Governing Prisons: A Comparative Study of Correctional Management (New York: Free Press 1987); Roy King and Kathleen McDermott, The State of Our Prisons (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1995); and Robert Freeman, Correctional Organization and Management: Public Policy Challenges, Behavior and Structure (Boston: Butterworth 1999). 19 Kieran McEvoy, David O'Mahony, Carol Horner, and Olwen Lyner, ‘The Home Front: The Families of Politically Motivated Prisoners in Northern Ireland’, British Journal of Criminology 39/1 (1999) pp.75–197. 20 As Brendan McFarland, Officer Commanding of IRA prisoners during the second hunger strike explained years after the protest era: ‘Coming out of the period of the hunger strike had a very marked effect on me. I was emotionally drained and physically exhausted and I felt coming into 1982, the best thing for me to do was to give someone else the reins and let them make the push on whatever new strategy was going to be formulated. I needed a break. Cited in McKeown (note 10) pp.87,88. 21 James C. Scott, Domination and the Arts of Resistance (New Haven: Yale University Press 1990) p.126. 22 For an excellent discussion of the tensions amongst Republican prisoners, see McKeown (note 10). 23 See, for example, A. MacIntyre, ‘Modern Irish Republicanism: The Product of British State Strategies’, Irish Political Studies 10 (1995) pp.97–122. 24 See McEvoy, Paramilitary Imprisonment in Northern Ireland (note 9). 25 For an overview, see Rudi Teitel, Transitional Justice (New York: Oxford University Press 2000). 26 See McEvoy et al., ‘The Home Front’ (note 19). 27 Quote in Coiste na n-Iarchimí, Counselling and Emotional Support: Report of a Seminar Held in the Creighton Hotel. 5 June 1999 (Belfast: Coiste na n-Iarchimí 1999) p.2. 28 See, for example, J. Coker and J. P Martin, Licensed to Live (Oxford: Basil Blackwell 1999). 29 N. Hunt and I. Robbins, ‘The Long-Term Consequences of War: The Experience Of World War II’, Aging and Mental Health 5/2 (2001) pp.183–90. 30 J. Leskela, M. Dieperink, and P. Thuras, ‘Shame and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder’, Journal of Traumatic Stress 15/3 (2002) pp.223–6. 31 K. Kanninen, R-L Punamäki, and S. Qouta, ‘The Relation of Appraisal, Coping Efforts, and Acuteness of Trauma to PTS Symptoms Among Former Political Prisoners’, Journal of Traumatic Stress 15/3 (2002) pp.245–53. 32 Grounds and Jamieson (note 3) describe in their study of non-mainstream Republicans a similar range of negative consequences related to imprisonment among their sample. They too found health-related problems, difficulty with social interaction, greater introversion, some alcohol problems and at least two who had post-traumatic stress disorder. One interesting feature of the current study is that, despite the fact that those interviewed for this project continued to be mainstream Republicans and were therefore more explicitly part of the larger ‘Republican family’, many of the practical issues and problems faced mirrored exactly those of the other non-aligned groupings studied by Grounds and Jamieson (note 3) p.356. 33 See T. W. Miller, P. Kamenchenko, and A. Krasniasnski, ‘Assessment Of Life Stress Events: The Etiology and Measurement Of Traumatic Stress Disorder’, International Journal Of Social Psychiatry 38/3 (1992) pp.215–27; Stephen Joseph, William Yule and Ruth M. Williams, Understanding Post Traumatic Stress: A Psychosocial Perspective On PTSD and Treatment (London: John Wiley 1997); Colleen McCarty-Gould, Crisis And Chaos: Life With the Combat Veteran: The Stories of Families Living and Coping With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (Halifax, NS: Nova Scotia Science Publishing 1998); and Stewart Bedford, War and PTSD (Frederick, MD: Publish America 2002). 34 Evidence to support the existence of post-traumatic stress disorders was based upon evaluating the experiences of witnessing a serious threat to life, experiencing these threats via flashbacks, avoiding places where you witnessed this threat to life. Analyzing hypervigilance, insomnia and startlement, irritability and anger, emotions. Issues around fatalism, loss of confidence, depression, insomnia, lack of self-confidence and panic were also included. Additional criteria included exhaustion, apathy and loss of skill memory. 35 It is evident that marital breakdown was linked to age. The divorce rate, for example, among those aged under 40 is nearly twice as high as for those aged over 40. Source: Inter-Church Marriage Bureau (2000) unpublished report. 36 Some prisoners may also be unwilling to communicate emotionally even with those who have been through the prison experience. As one ex-prisoner's wife indicated: ‘I've told him to go to Tar Isteach for counseling. I've been and it helped me. He says that his mates would laugh at him. It's stupid being afraid to get help. It would help if he went. We row about him going. I'm at my wits end’. 37 See R. J. Ursano and N. Norwood, Emotional Aftermath of the Persian Gulf War: Veterans, Families, Communities and Nations (Washington DC: APA 1996). 38 McEvoy et al., ‘The Home Front’ (note 19). 39 Heather Deegan, The Politics of the New South Africa: Apartheid and After (New York: Longman 2001). 40 The Agreement (Belfast: NIO 1998) p.25. 41 See McEvoy, Paramilitary Imprisonment in Northern Ireland (note 9) especially Chapters 2–6. 42 See Northern Ireland Census (2001) http://145.229.156.31/nica/common/home.jsp 43 Tar Anall (note 3). 44 Paul McGill, A West Belfast Social Economy Programme: A Report for Making Belfast Work (unpublished 1999). 45 Ó hAdhmaill (note 3). 46 See Kieran McEvoy, ‘Law, Struggle and Political Transformation in Northern Ireland’, Journal of Law and Society 27/4 (2000) pp.542–71. 47 Alan Hunt, Explorations in Law and Society: Towards a Constitutive Theory of Law (London: Routledge 1993) p.243. 48 See McEvoy, ‘The Agreement’ (note 1). 49 Re McComb [2003], NIQB 47. 50 Stephen Livingstone, ‘The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission’, Fordham International Law Journal 22/4 (1999) pp.1465–99. 51 Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, A Draft Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland (Belfast: NIHRC 2001) Article 4. However, the draft Bill of Rights also contains an exception wherein discrimination on the grounds of a criminal conviction may be adjudged legitimate if the characteristic used to discriminate is ‘…a genuine and determining requirement’. 52 Ibid., Article 15. 53 Christopher McCrudden, ‘Mainstreaming Equality in the Governance of Northern Ireland’, Fordham International Law Journal 22/4 (1999) pp.1696–1776. 54 Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, Position Paper: Update on the Single Equality Act (Belfast: Equality Commission 2002) Par 3.8.5. The exemptions envisaged included certain violent offences and sexual crimes including abuse. 55 Ibid., Para 3.8.8.1 and Para 3.8.7. 56 Mike Ritchie, ‘Equality Commission Now Opposes Ex-Prisoner Discrimination’, Coiste.com 4/4 (October/November 2002) p.3. 57 Ibid. The phrase ‘acts of completion’ was first coined by Prime Minister Tony Blair in pointing out the various actions required of Republicans to signify that the conflict had truly finished and that the IRA was no longer an active paramilitary organization. 58 Ho Won Jeong (ed), Conflict Resolution: Dynamics, Process and Structure (Aldershot: Ashgate 1999). 59 See Christopher Uggen, ‘Work as a Turning Point in the Life Course of Criminals: A Duration Model of Age’, American Sociological Review 65 (2000) pp.529–46; Shadd Maruna, Making Good: How Ex-Convicts Reform and Rebuild Their Lives (Washington DC: APA Books 2001); and Shadd Maruna and Russ Immaigeon (eds), After Crime and Punishment: Pathways to Offender Reintegration (Cullompten: Willan 2004). 60 Maruna (note 59) p.88. 61 For an overview of citizenship debates, see Alan Oldfield, Citizenship and Community: Civic Republicanism and the Modern World (New York: Routledge 1990); and John Colgan and Ray Derricott (eds), Citizenship for the 21st Century (London: Kogan Page 2000). 62 Christopher Uggin, Jeff Manza and Angela Behrens, ‘Less than the Average Citizen: Stigma, Role Transition, and the Civic Reintegration of Convicted Felons’, in Shadd Maruna and Russ Immaigeon (eds), After Crime and Punishment: Pathways to Offender Reintegration (Cullompten: Willan 2004) pp.269–93. 63 For an illustrative example of the work of ex-prisoners in seeking to supplant paramilitary punishment violence with community mediation and conflict resolution programs based upon the principles of restorative justice, see Kieran McEvoy and Harry Mika, ‘Restorative Justice and the Critique of Informalism in Northern Ireland’, British Journal of Criminology 42/3 (2002) pp.534–63.