Preservation of the Rights of Prisoners

Last updated

Preservation of the Rights of Prisoners (PROP) was a prisoners' rights organisation set up in the early 1970s in the United Kingdom, which organised more than one hundred prison demonstrations, strikes and protests.

Contents

Formation

In the first five months of 1972 there were across the United Kingdom over fifty peaceful protests by prisoners. [1] :176 PROP was launched on 11 May 1972 in a public house, the Prince Arthur opposite Pentonville Prison, to "preserve, protect and to extend the rights of prisoners and ex-prisoners and to assist in their rehabilitation and re-integration into society, so as to bring about a reduction in crime." [2]

PROP's foundation meeting was held in Hull and was attended by 60 people. Speakers included Norwegian sociologist Thomas Mathiesen, Jack Ashwell local branch secretary of the TGWU and Ros Kane from Radical Alternatives to Prison. [3] The sociologist Mike Fitzgerald took on the role of press officer.

Prison strike

Later, on 4 August 1972, PROP organise a 24-hour general strike in support of the demands in the PROP charter. [4] Prop estimated the support at 10,000 prisoners in 33 prisons, the Home Office at half that. [5]

The prisons listed by PROP were: [1]

Later history

PROP were active for a few years, it's not clear when the organisation closed. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HM Prison Maze</span> 1971–2000 prison in Northern Ireland

HM Prison Maze was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to September 2000. On 15 October 1974 Irish Republican internees burned 21 of the compounds used to house the internees thereby destroying much of Long Kesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunger strike</span> Form of protest or political activism

A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not solid food. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are named dry hunger strikers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill-Health) Act 1913</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Prisoners Act 1913, commonly referred to as the Cat and Mouse Act, was an Act of Parliament passed in Britain under H. H. Asquith's Liberal government in 1913.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revolutionary Communist Group (UK)</span> Political party in Great Britain

The Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG) is a communist, Marxist and Leninist political organisation in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley Cohen (sociologist)</span> British sociologist (1942–2013)

Stanley Cohen was a sociologist and criminologist, Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics, known for breaking academic ground on "emotional management", including the mismanagement of emotions in the form of sentimentality, overreaction, and emotional denial. He had a lifelong concern with human rights violations, first growing up in South Africa, later studying imprisonment in England and finally in Palestine. He founded the Centre for the Study of Human Rights at the London School of Economics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1981 Irish hunger strike</span> Protest by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland, in which ten died

The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary prisoners. In 1978, the dispute escalated into the dirty protest, where prisoners refused to leave their cells to wash and covered the walls of their cells with excrement. In 1980, seven prisoners participated in the first hunger strike, which ended after 53 days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prisoners' rights</span> Rights of detainees

The rights of civilian and military prisoners are governed by both national and international law. International conventions include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the United Nations' Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Laurence John Taylor is an English sociologist and radio presenter, originally from Liverpool.

The POA: The Professional Trades Union for Prison, Correctional and Secure Psychiatric Workers, also known as the Prison Officers' Association (POA), is a trade union in the United Kingdom. It currently has a membership over 30,000.

HM Prison Albany is a Category B men's prison, situated on the outskirts of Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Albany is located next to Parkhurst, another Male/B prison and together they form HM Prison Isle of Wight.

In July 1972, William Whitelaw, the Conservative British government's Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, granted Special Category Status (SCS) to all prisoners serving sentences in Northern Ireland for Troubles-related offences. This had been one of the conditions set by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) when they negotiated a meeting with the government to discuss a truce.

The National Deviancy Symposium consisted of a group of British criminologists dissatisfied with orthodox British criminology who met at the University of York in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The group included Paul Rock, David Downes, Laurie Taylor, Stan Cohen, Ian Taylor and Jock Young. Many members later became involved in critical criminology and/or Left realism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anatoly Marchenko</span> Soviet dissident (1938–1986)

Anatoly Tikhonovich Marchenko was a Soviet dissident, author, and human rights campaigner, who became one of the first two recipients of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought of the European Parliament when it was awarded to him posthumously in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Mathiesen</span> Norwegian sociologist (1933–2021)

Thomas Mathiesen was a Norwegian sociologist, particularly known for his work in sociology of law. Besides criminologist Nils Christie, Mathiesen is one of two Norwegian social scientists covered in the book 50 Key Thinkers in Criminology.

Mike Fitzgerald is a criminologist, former higher education manager and consultant. He was Vice-Chancellor of Thames Valley University in the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammad Fahad al-Qahtani</span> Saudi human rights activist (born c. 1965)

Mohammad Fahad Muflih al-Qahtani is a human rights activist, economics professor and political prisoner currently jailed at Al-Ha’ir Prison in Riyadh. Prior to his arbitrary 2012 arrest, he co-founded and later lead the Saudi Arabia human rights organisation Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association. Alkarama described al-Qahtani as "one of [the Saudi Arabian judiciary's] most eloquent and fervent critics". On 9 March 2013, al-Qahtani was sentenced to ten years in prison followed by a ten-year travel ban, ostensibly for "co-founding an unlicensed civil association". He has carried out several hunger strikes to protest Saudi prison conditions endured during his politically motivated incarceration. As of 2022, he remains jailed and has been intermittently kept in solitary confinement since 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HM Prison Northeye</span> Former prison in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, England

H.M. Prison Northeye was a prison located at Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, England which was in operation from 1969 to 1992.

HM Prison Oxford was a prison in Oxford Castle from 1888 until 1996. The castle had been used as a prison since the seventeenth century, but it only acquired the name HM Prison Oxford in the 1888 prison reforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Hawkins</span> English suffragette

Alice Hawkins was a leading English suffragette among the boot and shoe machinists of Leicester. She went to prison five times for acts committed as part of the Women’s Social and Political Union militant campaign. Her husband Alfred Hawkins was also an active suffragist and received £100 when his kneecap was fractured as he was ejected from a meeting in Bradford. In 2018 a statue of Alice was unveiled in Leicester Market Square.

In October 1923 mass hunger strikes were undertaken by Irish republican prisoners protesting the continuation of their internment without trial. The Irish Civil War had ended six months earlier yet the newly formed Provisional Government of the Irish Free State was slow in releasing the thousands of Irish republican prisoners opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

References

  1. 1 2 Fitzgerald, Mike (1976). Prisoners in revolt: the origin and development of Preservation of the Rights of Prisoners (PROP), the British Prisoners Union. Leicester: University of Leicester.
  2. Fitzgerald, M. (1977) Prisoners in Revolt, Harmondsworth: Penguin pg.136-137
  3. Fitzgerald, M. (1977) Prisoners in Revolt, Harmondsworth: Penguin pg.142-143
  4. Taylor, I. (1981) Law and Order: Arguments for Socialism, London: Macmillan pg.128
  5. 1 2 https://libcom.org/article/prop-72-history-uk-prisoners-union