IT'S been revealed the Prison Service in the North have banned three books from their prisons, with all of the books having republican content.

The three books banned are Joe Cahill: A Life in the IRA; Dessie: The Life and Legacy of Volunteer Dessie Grew; and No Greater Love: The Memoirs of Seamus Kearney.

Séamus Kearney's book recounts his experience as an IRA volunteer and his imprisonment from 1977 to 1986, first at Crumlin Road Gaol and then in the infamous H-Blocks where he participated in the blanket protests.

In the book, Séamus names prison officers who he claims were involved in the dehumanising and degrading treatment of prisoners. Séamus’ account is further backed up by an independent Human Rights inquiry. Commissioned by prisoners’ advocacy group, Coiste na n-Iarchimí, the ‘I am Sir, You Are A Number’ report lays bare the treatment of PoWs during the republican prison protests in the H-Blocks and Armagh Gaol between 1976 and 1981.

REPORT: The independent Human Rights report 'I Am Sir, You Are A Number' which states prisoners were routinely abused in the prisons
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REPORT: The independent Human Rights report 'I Am Sir, You Are A Number' which states prisoners were routinely abused in the prisons

Speaking on why he believes the Prison Service have banned his book, Séamus said: “I think it’s obvious why my book has been banned. My book was not sanitised in its depiction of what we were subjected to. I named those responsible and while the Prison Service can dismiss my book, they cannot dismiss the findings of the independent panel which lays the blame at their – and the British government’s feet.

“My book is a testament to the spirit and passion of the prisoners in resisting what they did to us. Maybe it is time the Prison Service faced up to what they did and acknowledged that what they did was wrong.”

Séamus’ book details many individual instances of abuse subjected to him and others on his wing in H4. Séamus said: “The screws in charge of our wing were brutal and sadistic. They dehumanised us to such an extent that they would tell new inmates that we were nothing more than animals, and they said because we were animals that we were being treated as such. In one instance in the winter of 1978 it was freezing cold and the screws sandbagged the doors both ends of the wing and turned on a firehose for the whole night. We were left standing in several inches of freezing cold water for hours.”

Séamus said: “The abuse has been admitted privately by former prison officers themselves. They even nicknamed a core group of officers on the wings as ‘The Sadistic Branch’. I revisited the prison again shortly before it was torn down and joined a tour which showed Cell 26 which was used by screws as a romper room for torture. The man leading the tour told us the previous week he had taken around a group of former officers and only one was brave enough to re-enter the cell. When he came out he said to the others ‘we did some terrible, terrible things in that room'.”

A spokesperson for the Prison Service said: “Books are not permitted if it is considered that they promote, glorify, justify, support or encourage the commission of criminal acts or offences, which could be viewed as homophobic, obscene, racist, terrorist or of violent nature.”

Séamus’ memoir ‘No Greater Love’ is available to purchase at the Cultúrlann, Falls Road, Belfast and at Little Acorns Bookstore in Derry.