Hunger strikers would rather die than accept ‘criminal’ status
Dublin, 24 November 1919 - Arthur Griffith has declared that ‘no man convicted for a political offence in Ireland will accept the status of a criminal’ even if it comes at the cost of his life.
The Sinn Féin founder and MP for Tyrone North West was speaking to journalists at his residence following the issue of a notice by the General Prisons’ Board, Dublin Castle, which does away with any and all concession and privileges that have heretofore been extended to Irish political prisoners.
From now on, prisoners incarcerated in default of giving bail will be treated as if they had been convicted of the offence disclosed in the warrants under which they are arrested.
Furthermore, prisoners resorting to hunger strike will no longer, under any circumstances, be released from prison either unconditionally or conditionally. The statement issued by the General Prisons’ Board declares that from 24 November 1919 any prisoner who goes on hunger strike ‘will do so with the full knowledge of the consequences. If any prisoner persists in such conduct and refuses to partake of the food and sustenance provided by the prison authority he will be alone responsible’.
Contrary to this interpretation, Mr Griffith insists that the responsibility for the fate of the hunger-striking prisoner will be that of the authorities. If a prisoner’s life ‘is forfeited in the attempt to make him accept [criminal] status, then those who cause him to lose his life will be guilty of murder.’
An unnamed member of the Visiting Justices Committee, speaking to a representative of the Freeman’s Journal, has said that the effect of this latest order will be to ‘set the heather on fire and the country ablaze’.
This observer added that from what he has witnessed in Mountjoy and the ‘determination to secure treatment as political prisoners’, there is no prospect of the order having the effect the authorities desire. ‘The latest order’, he added, ‘is a brand of Prussianism’ worse than what was inflicted upon ‘the poor tortured people of Belgium’.
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
