Armagh Beatings
TWENTY-THREE-HOUR lock-up, deprivation of toilet, washing and medical facilities, petty harassment and physical attacks by wardresses continue to be the routine treatment for the 32 republican women prisoners protesting for political status in Armagh Jail.
Latest reports indicate that the women's ingoing and outgoing mail is being seriously interfered with by the prison regime - either being `lost' or delayed.
As previously reported, four women were brutally attacked on the afternoon of Wednesday 26 March, namely Anne Bateson (Toomebridge), Eileen Morgan (Newry), Breige Ann McCaughey (Andersonstown) and Shirley Devlin (Newington). Statements from the latter three, written on scraps of toilet paper, have been smuggled out of the jail and are published here.
Subsequently last Friday, Breige Ann McCaughey was attacked in the guard room. Three wardresses grabbed her, forced her arms up her back, and held her while a senior wardress gave her a talking to. On the same day Rosie Nolan (Ballymurphy), who was out of her cell to collect her supper, was grabbed by four wardresses on the wing. They gave her a few punches and threw her bodily into the cell because, they claimed, she hadn't moved quickly enough - Rosie Nolan has a medical record of serious illness, a bad back, and a leg injury from an accident.
Phoblacht, Saturday 19 April, 1980
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