Irish Northern Aid
The Hunger Strikers
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6. Wing Shifts, Body Searches, and Forced Washes: The H-Blocks Become More Sadistic
By the end of 1978, there were over 300 Republican prisoners on the Blanket in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh. Prison authorities were giving the screws until the New Year to break the men and they were given the tools to do it: wing shifts, table and then mirror searches, and forced washes.
Wing Shifts
The first of these new tactics was the dreaded "Wing Shift." Ostensibly to allow for proper cleaning of the cells with disinfectant and high pressure steam, it was really an excuse to beat and abuse the men. They were moved two at a time into new cells in another wing, dragged by the feet or hair, and beaten by dozens of screws along the route -- the farther away the new wing the worse the beating. As many as 5 teams of demented screws awaited each of the prisoners along the way.
In the beginning, wing shifts would happen every few weeks. Then every 4 or 5 days, a shift could take over an hour to complete and if you were last, you would have to endure listening to 44 men being tortured until it was your turn.
When the bedding and other personal gear was finally put into the new cells, they were seldom reunited with the proper owned -- and were usually soaked in urine or rubbed against the excrement in the walls. It was bad enough having to lie in your own mess.
One 16 year old prisoner, Ciaran McGillicuddy, recalls in Nor Meekly Spend My Time, what it was like to join the protest at this phase: "When I turned in B Wing, the smell hit me right up the face. It was unbelievably bad; it nearly made me throw up. It was like walking into an invisible wall. It was like the smell of bodies decomposing."
Table Searches
The worst part of the shifts was the introduction of the "table search," soon to be eclipsed in sadism by the "mirror search." One Blanketman described his first table search: "Suddenly four or five screws jumped on me, grabbing my arms and legs. One grabbed my hair, pulled my head down onto the table and repeatedly banged it off the table surface. The rest of my body was raised into the air until I was upside down. One screw spread my legs and pulled my buttocks apart; his thumb pushed at the entrance of my anus, pulling it open. The pain was bad, but nothing compared to the humiliation I felt at that moment. This couldn't be happening; it was nothing less than sexual assault."
The men were in pain for days. For months after, they would bleed every time they had bowel movements.
The IRA Retaliate
A prison governor boasted he initiated the wing shifts and the table searches and that more was on the way. The IRA executed him. Other notorious human rights offenders among the prison authorities and screws were hit by the IRA as well, but conditions continued to be brutal. And then they got worse.
Cell Searches and Forced Washings
After wing shifts and table searches, the men now had to endure cell searches which intensified the beatings. These searches nearly always ended with the spilling of the contents of the men's "piss pots" over the bedding.
The medical staff and doctors were particularly sinister for they knew how unhealthy the conditions were and could assess for themselves the results of the beatings. Yet they either said nothing or actually participated in the abuse as in the case with "forced washes" -- the next phase of the push to break the men. A man would be taken before a prison doctor who would always order a forced washing. One Blanketman, Ned Flynn, told of his first forced wash:
“Four [screws] came into my cell and grabbed the blanket from me, then two of them caught me by the legs and dragged me naked down the landing and into the circle. I was lifted into a van and taken to the boards, all the time slapped and punched.
“When we reached the punishment Block, they carried me in and dropped me into a bath of cold water. One screw rubbed shampoo into my hair while two others scrubbed my body with deck scrubbers. No part of my body was left untouched -- they used the deck scrubbers on my privates, which left me in pain for days afterwards. My whole body was covered with scrapes.”
Mirror “Cavity” Searches Begin
Towards the end of 1978, the table searches were replaced by cavity searches using a 14" mirror on the end of a stick that was often jammed into the men. Teams of screws would hold a man and force him to squat over a mirror while another screw shone a flashlight up his rectum.
When the men resisted, their legs were often kicked out from under them sending them crashing upon the mirror. All the while they were cursed at and punched. If the mirror happened to break during this horrifying procedure, the man would be charged with destroying prison property.
Next: Part 7 - The Blanketmen fight back: first with their fists and then with their sense of comraderie and humor.
