§ Mr. Michael Brown asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement about developments at Her Majesty's prison, Maze since the end of the hunger strikes.
459W§ Mr. Prior: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given earlier today to the hon. Member for Isle of Wight (Mr. Ross).
§ Rev. Ian Paisley asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the effective differences between the concessions made to the IRA prisoners and their five demands which the Government have previously refused to grant; and whether these changes are to be extended to all prisoners.
§ Mr. Prior: The changes I announced on 6 October are applicable to all prisoners and confer no special status or privileges on IRA prisoners or people convicted of terrorist offences.
§ The government made clear throughout the hunger strike their intention to resume improvements in the prison regime once that element of duress was removed. Allowing prisoners to wear there own clothes is the only respect in which the changes coincide with the demands of the hunger strikers. The restoration of some lost remission to conforming prisoners only and minor changes in association do not compare with the sweeping demands for free association, full remission and freedom not to work which the protesting prisoners made.