An Account of the Long Kesh prison breakout, 30 years ago this week

Posted by Jim on September 30, 2013

 
 In October 1981, at the end of the Hunger Strike, the British government
 announced the defeat of the republican prisoners in the H Blocks of Long
 Kesh. Less than two years later, 38 of those ‘defeated’ republicans
 smashed their way out of what had been claimed as the “most secure jail
 in Europe”, inflicting a major political and military defeat on the
 British.
 
 The 1983 escape was a major undertaking for the Irish Republican Army,
 both inside and outside the jail. The organisation outside the prison
 devoted time and resources to the breakout plan during a period of
 intense pressure by the British. Inside Long Kesh, the republican POWs
 spent countless hours in preparation – the painstaking collection and
 collation of intelligence, the meticulous planning of each stage of the
 operation, the continuous briefing of people on their roles and the
 acquiring and safekeeping of weapons vital to success.
 
 It was Ardoyne tactician Larry Marley who established the bold and
 expansive objective of getting the maximum number of men possible out of
 the jail. He led a specialist team of five men selected by the camp
 leadership and entrusted with the business of organising escapes.
 
 He masterminded the escape plan that would revolve around a weak link
 identified in prison security, the lorry used to deliver meals to the
 different blocks. Of particular interest was the fact that the lorry was
 never searched on its way round the camp.
 
 The escape committee next turned their attention to seizing control of a
 H Block. They realised the key to such an ambitious plan was gaining
 control of the central crossbar of the ‘H’, which serves as an entrance
 hall and administrative area and is known, in a throwback to Victorian
 jails, as “the circle”.
 
 In order for their plan to succeed, the prisoners realised that they had
 to lull the staff into a false sense of security. The ending of the
 ‘no-work’ protest aided this plan, as it meant the prisoners were out of
 their cells for long periods, aiding the psychological battle against
 the screws, who now found themselves outnumbered. The prison
 authorities, eager to publicise the ‘normalisation’ of the prison, were
 happy to put prisoners to work as orderlies cleaning all over the block,
 including the circle.
 
 The end result of this was a situation whereby some of the most renowned
 republican prisoners in Long Kesh became apparently eager to do prison
 work and made concerted efforts to become pally with screws. The
 prisoners in H7 carefully nurtured a relaxed atmosphere until it became
 the norm and the screws viewed security breaches by the prisoners as
 innocuous.
 
 A number of the prisoners ordered to befriend the screws were not aware
 of the escape plan and swallowed this bitter pill on trust. Other
 prisoners, also unaware of the escape plan, were upset at what they
 witnessed, not surprising given the brutal history of previous years,
 and there was a constant rumbling of discontent below the surface.
 
 The camp leadership appointed Bobby Storey as OC of the operation and
 Bik McFarlane as his adjutant. Both were already members of the escape
 committee.
 
 Finally, Sunday 25 September was chosen as the appointed day, and the
 plan was put into effect. As the day approached, more prisoners were let
 in on the plan and those on the list to escape were informed. Other
 prisoners would play a vital role in taking the Block and guarding the
 screws but would not be escaping.
 
 In the event, the Block was taken according to plan. One screw was shot
 and injured when he attempted to shut the door of the control room and
 raise the alarm.
 
 The next stage of the plan also went well. The food lorry was
 successfully hijacked and the driver was forced at gunpoint to take his
 now human cargo out of the prison.
 
 Where the escapers ran into problems was at the tally lodge at the
 prison’s main entrance. The plan was to seize control of the lodge, hold
 the screws inside hostage while the lorry was driven through the
 ‘airlock’ at the main gate. Everyone was then to rendezvous with a
 heavily armed force of IRA Volunteers who were waiting a few miles from
 the jail.
 
 But by this stage the escape was running 20 minutes late and the lorry’s
 arrival coincided with a shift change for the screws. Those prisoners
 who took control of the tally lodge were soon knee-deep in screws, as
 they arrested more and more as they came on duty.
 
 Eventually the prisoners’ hand was forced when more screws coming on
 duty realised that something was wrong and two of them blocked the
 gateway with their cars.
 
 Bik saw this as he opened the main hydraulic gate and he and Bobby
 quickly conferred, realising that the general alarm was about to be
 sounded. The prisoners had no option but to leave the lorry and rush the
 main gate in numbers.
 
 Thirty-five prisoners managed to breach the prison perimeter
 successfully. In all, 19 of those on the escape were quickly recaptured,
 but the other 19 successfully managed to evade capture, by a variety of
 means and routes. One screw, who was stabbed in the struggle at the
 tally lodge, later died, but the coroner subsequently ruled he had
 succumbed not to his wounds but to a heart attack.
 
 Back in the prison, when the screws retook H7, the rearguard were strip
 searched and were then made to run a vicious gauntlet of baton wielding
 screws and dogs, as they were moved to H8.
 
 * In July of this year, it emerged how deeply the 1983 escape affected
 the Thatcher regime. Concerned about the huge boost to republican
 spirits, Thatcher said she regarded the escape “most seriously”. After
 learning it had involved scores of prisoners, the so-called ‘Iron Lady’
 privately admitted the breakout was “even worse than we thought”.