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In July 1972,
William Whitelaw William Stephen Ian Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw (28 June 1918 – 1 July 1999) was a British Conservative Party politician who served in a wide number of Cabinet positions, most notably as Home Secretary from 1979 to 1983 and as '' de fac ...
, the
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
British government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
's
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland The secretary of state for Northern Ireland (; ), also referred to as Northern Ireland Secretary or SoSNI, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the Northern Ireland Office. The offi ...
, granted Special Category Status (SCS) to all prisoners serving sentences in
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
for Troubles-related offences. This had been one of the conditions set by the
Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...
(IRA) when they negotiated a meeting with the government to discuss a truce. Special category (or "political") status was '' de facto''
prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
(POW) status, providing them with some of the privileges of POWs, such as those specified in the
Geneva Conventions upright=1.15, The original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are international humanitarian laws consisting of four treaties and three additional protocols that establish international legal standards for humanitarian t ...
. This meant prisoners did not have to wear
prison uniform A prison uniform is a set of standardized clothing worn by prisoners. It usually includes visually distinct clothes worn to indicate the wearer is a prisoner, in clear distinction from civil clothing. Prison uniforms are intended to make prisone ...
s or do prison work, were housed within their
paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...
factions, and were allowed extra visits and food parcels. SCS was introduced in 1972 by
William Whitelaw William Stephen Ian Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw (28 June 1918 – 1 July 1999) was a British Conservative Party politician who served in a wide number of Cabinet positions, most notably as Home Secretary from 1979 to 1983 and as '' de fac ...
while serving as
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland The secretary of state for Northern Ireland (; ), also referred to as Northern Ireland Secretary or SoSNI, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the Northern Ireland Office. The offi ...
. That year, Whitelaw explained the status in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
, while denying that political status had been granted: In January 1975 the Gardiner 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 new Labour Secretary of State
Merlyn Rees Merlyn Merlyn-Rees, Baron Merlyn-Rees, (né Merlyn Rees; 18 December 1920 – 5 January 2006) was a British Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament from 1963 until 1992. He served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1974–1 ...
announced the phasing out of SCS. Anyone convicted of a scheduled offence after March 1976 would be treated as an ordinary criminal and would have to wear a
prison uniform A prison uniform is a set of standardized clothing worn by prisoners. It usually includes visually distinct clothes worn to indicate the wearer is a prisoner, in clear distinction from civil clothing. Prison uniforms are intended to make prisone ...
, do prison work and serve their sentence in the new
Maze Prison HM Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as the Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to September 2000. On 15 ...
, 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 that
Roy Mason Roy Mason, Baron Mason of Barnsley, (18 April 1924 – 19 April 2015), was a British Labour Party politician and Cabinet minister who was Secretary of State for Defence and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the 1970s. Early life Ma ...
took 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 IRA
volunteer Volunteering is an elective and freely chosen act of an individual or group giving their time and labor, often for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency ...
Kieran Nugent Kieran Nugent (1958 – 4 May 2000) was an Irish volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and best known for being the first IRA 'blanket man' in the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland. When sentenced to three years for hijacking a b ...
, who had recently been convicted of
hijacking Hijacking may refer to: Common usage Computing and technology * Bluejacking, the unsolicited transmission of data via Bluetooth * Brandjacking, the unauthorized use of a company's brand * Browser hijacking * Clickjacking (including ''likej ...
a bus. Nugent refused to wear the uniform, saying he was not a criminal but a
political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...
. He was locked in his cell where he wrapped himself in the blanket that was on the bed rather than remain naked, beginning the blanket protest. This was the same action taken by old IRA prisoners in the south in the 1940s. By 1978, nearly 300
Irish republican Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...
prisoners were refusing to wear prison uniforms. The protest was followed by the 1981 hunger strike when 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.


References

{{The Troubles 1972 establishments in the United Kingdom 1976 disestablishments in the United Kingdom 1970s in Northern Ireland Penal system in the United Kingdom The Troubles (Northern Ireland) Political imprisonment