‘Sometimes I wish I was an “ex” ex-prisoner’: identity processes in the collective action participation of former prisoners in Northern Ireland

Abstract

Since the signing of the Northern Ireland peace agreement, a plethora of community-based prisoner self-help organizations has been established wherein former prisoners and staff, manage and deliver services to colleagues. By forging and maintaining their collective identities through community-based mutual aid, members of these self-help organizations not only have progressed to create individual change/assistance but have also developed and evolved to tackle serious wider social issues which impact the members of their organizations. This is a critical analysis of how the conditions of a post-conflict society can influence both the development and evolution of these organizations and also how members situate their claims about the self in the organization and beyond. Using the social movement framework, it is argued that the work of these self-help organizations have given rise to a new politics of identity – the ‘politically motivated’ ex-prisoner.

Keywords:

• identity
• collective action
• ‘politically motivated’ ex-prisoners
• social movements
• self-help

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Professor Shadd Maruna and Professor Kieran McEvoy for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this article. She would also like to gratefully acknowledge the two anonymous referees for their helpful comments.

Notes

1. Prisoners were deemed as ‘politically motivated’ if they were serving a ‘conflict related’ sentence and were convicted of scheduled offenses during the conflict in Northern Ireland. Scheduled offenses are those offenses listed as an appendix to the various emergency legislation in Northern Ireland (including Schedule 1 of the Northern Ireland [Emergency Provisions] Act 1973, 1978, 1996). Those convicted of schedule offenses were members of, or had connections to, various paramilitary organizations including (but not limited to) the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA);, Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA), Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) from the Republican community and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Ulster Defence Association (UDA) from the loyalist community. The majority of those who had ‘conflict related’ convictions had their case heard before a single judge in a special juryless court (Diplock court, see Jackson & Doran, 1995) and subsequently served their sentence in a very distinct prison regime (see McEvoy, 2001 for further discussions).

2. A mixed methods research approach was undertaken which involved the collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data. Data were also collected through a survey with 69 Republican and Loyalist former prisoners, the results of which are not reported in this article. For detailed discussion on the methodology and research process, see Dwyer (2010).

3. PMEP organizations have developed from within both Loyalist and Republican communities. Republican former prisoner organizations work with and lobby on behalf of Republican former prisoners and the Republican community. Loyalist former prisoner organizations work with and lobby on behalf of Loyalist former prisoners and the Loyalist community. However, the various paramilitary factions share similar goals for their members, including, working towards removal of barriers preventing the full inclusion of PMEPs in post-conflict Northern Ireland.

4. It has been estimated that during the course of the conflict, over 30,000 people were imprisoned as a result of their participation in the conflict (Jamieson, Shirlow, & Grounds, 2010).

5. This term is used to refer to those individuals convicted and processed through ‘ordinary’ criminal courts (as opposed to Diplock courts), who serve their sentences in ordinary or ‘traditional’ prison settings. Such individuals have also been referred to locally as ‘ordinary decent criminals’, a colloquialism from Northern Ireland for prisoners who are not ‘politically motivated’, in other words do not have a ‘conflict related’ conviction (see Guelke, 1995; McEvoy, 2001).

6. The Republican group, Tar Anal, and the Loyalist group, the Ex-Prisoners Interpretive Centre (EPIC), existed prior to the end of hostilities. Since then, a large network of over 20 organizations associated with the PIRA was developed and works within the umbrella network of Coiste na n-Iarchimi. On the Loyalist side, EPIC continued and developed a number of regional groups. Other Loyalist groups include REACT, Charter, Prisoner Aid and Post-Conflict Resettlement Group and LINC. Smaller organizations include An Eochair and EXPAC. For a more general description of some of these efforts, see Shirlow and McEvoy (2008) and Dwyer (2010).