Armagh Prison Dirty Protest

Begun as a reaction to unfair treatment of prisoners by prison guards, the 1980–1981 Armagh Prison Dirty Protest held at the all-women Armagh Prison in Northern Ireland borrowed tactics previously used by male Irish republican prisoners in Long Kesh Prison in their protests, beginning in 1978. These "dirty" or "no wash" protests involved prisoners refusing to bathe, use the lavatory, empty chamber pots, or clean their cells which resulted in their living in unsanitary conditions for long stretches of time while suffering increased abuse at the hands of the prison guards.

Convicted as members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), prisoners had been given Special Category Status by the British government beginning in July 1972 following a hunger strike of 40 IRA prisoners. This Special Category Status, which classified them as political prisoners rather than as members of the general population, entitled them to certain privileges.

These benefits, including the right to wear one's own clothes, to be exempt from prison work, and to gather with other political prisoners for free discourse, allowed the IRA and other paramilitary groups to distinguish themselves from other prisoners and to maintain their command structure in prison. Beginning in 1976, however, the British government introduced its policy of "criminalization”, which intended to portray the prisoners as criminals rather than political activists and a part of which included the rescinding of Special Category Status for all prisoners convicted after 1 March 1976. This withdrawal of special treatment and power for the IRA within the prison system caused an uproar both outside prison and among prisoners, who now found themselves forced to wear prison uniforms, engage in prison labour, restrict their visits both with fellow prisoners and with visitors from the outside, and deal with prison authorities individually rather than through their command structure. As a result, violence between prisoners and prison officials escalated, tensions within the prison rose, and a long string of protests aiming at a reinstatement of Special Category Status began.

The first in a long line of Long Kesh prison protests, the blanket protest was begun on 14 September 1976 by a prisoner named Kieran Nugent who, upon entrance into prison, refused to wear the uniform of the common criminal and instead chose to wear his blanket as a garment and, at times, go naked. During this protest, members of the IRA and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) followed suit, donning blankets rather than wearing prison uniform and thus protesting their treatment.

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