This ground-breaking book explores the history of Irish republican prisoners held in English prisons during the first phase of the Troubles. The arrival of the first of over 200 IRA members into the Dispersal System challenged a penal environment devised to cope with a relatively small number of long-term criminal inmates and inspired a range of Home Office reforms. The republicans exacerbated tensions within the limited range of facilities suitable for 'Category A' prisoners and played leading roles in the major Hull Riot ...
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This ground-breaking book explores the history of Irish republican prisoners held in English prisons during the first phase of the Troubles. The arrival of the first of over 200 IRA members into the Dispersal System challenged a penal environment devised to cope with a relatively small number of long-term criminal inmates and inspired a range of Home Office reforms. The republicans exacerbated tensions within the limited range of facilities suitable for 'Category A' prisoners and played leading roles in the major Hull Riot of 1976, as well as numerous other confrontations. Special Category draws upon unprecedented access to participants in order to detail and analyze the phenomena of the IRA in English prisons. Extensive new information is presented on IRA activities within the Dispersal System, not least planning and participation in riots, protests, legal challenges, escapes (successful and unsuccessful), and violent actions. Day-to-day factors - such as interaction with British pris
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