As in previous years, Prisoner Day at the West Belfast Festival proved to be one of the most popular events of the Festival. Hundreds of people braved the sweltering heat and crammed into the Felons Club in Andersonstown to meet former and current prisoners and view an exhibition of their artwork. Gerry Kelly, who opened the day's events, reminded those present that ``prisoners come from the community. They are not a different breed''.
He also announced the launch of a book, Executed: Tom Williams and the IRA, published by Beyond the Pale and written by serving prisoner Jim McVeigh on the life and death of Tom Williams, who was executed by the British in 1942 for his part in an IRA operation. Also present was Joe Cahill, himself famously sentenced to death with Tom Williams, and who assisted Jim McVeigh with the book.
The launch was chaired by Carol Cullen of Tar an Nall and began with a rendition of Tom Williams by Maria Cahill, granddaughter of Joe, who sang to a hushed audience.
She was followed by a series of readings by and about prisoners given by a number of leading republicans, beginning with Marie Moore, who had chosen Bik McFarlane's account of hearing of the death of Bobby Sands:
``It was a sleepless night for the most part and the next morning the screws were sounding quite chirpy. Everyone was totally shattered but it was essential to ensure that spirits didn't flag. It was difficult to keep the chin up. Apart from a very brief note to Brownie, I did practically nothing for the following couple of days - just lay back and drifted for most of the time. Any my family visit was an extremely testing and emotional affair which did little to help matters. But we simply had to battle on''.
Hunger striker, Laurence McKeown, now Dr McKeown, read Portlaoise prisoner Gerry Hanratty's brilliant and witty rallying poem to republicans and Leo Green, who also took part in the hunger strikes, chose as his reading the horrific account by the youngest prisoner on the blanket protest, 16 year old Ciaran McGillicuddy, of being forcibly body searched. As he read, several members of the audience could be seen swallowing hard and listening with dismayed disbelief as the awfulness of his experience unfolded.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)
