Repatriation of Irish Prisoners (1)
01 January 1991
Repatriation of Irish Prisoners
artdoc June=1991
The release of the Birmingham Six has not only raised the profile of other
cases of wrongful imprisonment, but has also given renewed impetus to the
long-standing campaign to transfer Irish prisoners, serving sentences in
British prisons, back to Ireland. While transfer from Northern Ireland to
Britain has always been easy, moves in the other direction have generally
been refused, or only conceded after considerable lobbying. In the 1970s
two men died on hunger strike while seeking transfer. After a prolonged
hunger strike and forced feeding, the Price sisters were eventually
transferred to Northern Ireland and were subsequently released. However,
three men sentenced with the Price sisters in 1973 are still serving life
sentences in Britain. An Appeal Court ruling on 22 March made legal history
when the three were given leave to appeal on the grounds that their
sentences were wrong in principle. They had been sentenced for conspiracy
to cause explosions and for causing two explosions. Of the nine convicted
at the original trial, six have been released (five of these were serving
life). (Irish News, 22.3.91; Guardian 22.3.91; APRN 17.1.91).
Another Irish prisoner in Britain, John McComb, who is serving a fixed
17 year sentence, is seeking a judicial review of the Home Office refusal
to grant a transfer. The Home Secretary turned down the transfer
application on the grounds that, if transferred, McComb would be released
earlier in Northern Ireland because the rules on remission are different.
McComb's case is that this is an unlawful criterion since transfer
decisions are supposed to be about prisoner welfare. (Irish News, 26.3.91).
The repatriation question also concerns the South of Ireland. The Dublin
government, unlike the British, has failed to ratify the European
convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners, mainly because its
prisons are already overcrowded and it fears large numbers would be
involved. This is challenged by groups campaigning on the issue, notably
the Dublin-based Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas. (Observer,
24.3.91).
Statewatch no 2, May/June 1991