Blanket Protest Poster

H Block/Long Kesh Poster, C. 1976-1981. Issued by Sinn Féin, 2a Lower Kevin Street, Dublin 8.

Letterpress poster with an image of a man wearing a blanket in an empty prison cell. Above the image reads, 'H-BLOCK' and below states, 'gan orthu ach Blaincéad. LONG KESH'. The Irish text translates to something like 'with nothing but blankets to cover them'. The sentiment the poster tries to evoke was that the Blanket Protest was harsh but heroic.
The Blanket Protest began in September 1976. The end of special category status for Prisoners convicted of causing terrorist offences was announced in March 1976. Kieran Nugent was the first prisoner to be sentenced under the new prison regime. Nugent was sent to the new 'H-Blocks' of the Maze Prison where he refused to wear prison clothes. He instead choose to wrap a prison blanket around himself. The Blanket Protest was a peaceful attempt to secure the return of the special category status, and thus, separating the ideological cause from criminality.

Object number: HA: 2023.17.1

More Information:
Coogan, T. P. (2015). On the blanket: The H-Block story. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Flynn, N. (1997). Birth of the Blanket Protest. Journal of Prisoners on Prisons, 7(1), 65-68.