Ex-POWs a driving force for change
by Ned Kelly
Speaking at the launch of a new report `The Cost of Imprisonment'
into the personal, social and employment impact on republican former
political prisoners, Avila Kilmurray, Director of the Northern
Ireland Voluntary Trust (NIVT) declared, ``politically motivated
ex-POWs are at the forefront and actively continuing the struggle
with their clear commitment to community development.''
The report conducted by the Upper Springfield Development Trust
(USDT), NIVT and Tús Nua, the the USDT's New Start for ex-POWs
programme, found that more than 1-in-10 (11.3%) of the adults from
the Upper Springfield area had been imprisoned. Other findings show
that 87% of these were first imprisoned aged under 25 (20% while
still officially children). The serious implications for future
employment prospects, due to the disruption in education and work
skills at a time when most people are first entering the job market,
is borne out by the report's findings that 87% of former prisoners
are long-term unemployed.
Terry Enright, USDT Vice-Chairperson said at the launch, ``it is
absolutely essential that ex-prisoners are re-intergrated back into
the community. This will also help with the development of the social
and economic regeneration of the area. This issue is part of the
equality agenda.''
Ms Kilmurray, praised for being a strong advocate for POW
re-intergration, added that the challenges for POW programmes were
twofold. She said, ``the challenge is to reach out beyond those who
are motivated to those who lack confidence'' and the external
challenge to educate, against a background of prejudice, those who
failed to understand fully the importance and potential of
politically motivated ex-POWs.
Kilmurray spoke of the personal, often hidden cost of imprisonment,
the former prisoners who were unable to come to terms with the brutal
treatment they received from the `justice' and jail systems, the
impact on relationships and the problems associated with alcohol
abuse. She also touched on the cost to those who while they remained
out of the jails were similarly imprisoned, the parents, wives,
partners and children of those imprisoned.
The risk of permanent exclusion from employment was also raised by
USDT economic development officer, Liam Stone who called for an
amnesty both north and south for politically motivated prisoners.
He went to say, ``convictions must be wiped out, they are a
restriction to jobs in the civil service, in a new policing service
and that clauses in the new fair employment legislation also affected
criminal compensation claims, funding and finance, travel and
fostering/adoption.''
Stone added, ``POWs would never have been in prison except for the
abnormal political situation.''
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