Four or five men are standing around a snooker table; others sit watching television while two more make themselves a cup of tea. Another strolls in and takes a dish from a microwave oven. Life is going on as normal in the canteen of a UFF wing in the Maze Prison, except that the governor is showing a group of journalists around and assuring them that prisoners do not control the jail.
There isn't a prison officer in sight. Most of the men are neatly turned out in sports clothes. The floor is polished. A cup of tea is politely offered. You are almost impressed until a poster in the cell of a leading loyalist, with the slogan "Kill 'em all, Let God sort them out", brings you back to reality.
The hastily arranged press tour came as part of a damage-limitation exercise by the Northern Ireland Office in January following the shooting dead of LVF leader Billy Wright by INLA inmates. After the killing in his cell last weekend of LVF prisoner David Keys, presumably by other LVF members sharing the wing, the prison authorities are facing a new barrage of criticism from unionists. The two killings came after the escape of IRA prisoner Liam Averill in December and the discovery of an IRA escape tunnel last March.
Again the question on everybody's mind is how can this happen and who is in control of the jail, which houses the North's paramilitary prisoners? The simple answer is that while inmates do not control the prison, inasmuch as they cannot walk in and out of blocks whenever they like, they certainly control the wings where they live, and can quite literally do what they like in their own accommodation, as the killing of Keys demonstrated.
Prisoners in the Maze now enjoy what is termed 24-hour free association, which means that in the wings, the legs of the H-shaped blocks, they can move freely 24 hours a day. There is now no need for prison officers to leave the central "circle" area, the arm of the H, to go down the wings, except to do head counts, which the Northern Ireland Office says happen twice daily.
David Keys, a former member of the Royal Irish Regiment, was a remand prisoner, accused along with three others of the murder of two lifelong friends in Poyntzpass last month. A prison officer found his body during a head count last Sunday morning. Nearly half of the 31 inmates currently in the wing have been questioned by police about the killing, but it will be difficult to find out who went into the cell to kill him. Security cameras constantly send back pictures of the corridor down each wing to a central control room, but the NIO has said that there are no "automatic recording facilities". Even if the prison officers had heard something, their only option would have been to push an alarm button to call in a riot squad, which is on constant duty in the prison. This is a course they would be slow to take. A former prisoner explained: "The attitude would be that what happens down the wing is the prisoners' business."
Prisoners go about their daily routine as they please, and they are not compelled to do any work. "It would be out of the question for a prison officer to come in and order anybody about," the former inmate added. Prisoners take responsibility for the cleaning and maintenance of the wings. Meals are delivered to the doors of the wings at set times, and prisoners divide out the food and eat it when they please. A store of communal food is also kept.
Prisoners find various ways to pass the time. Many take up exercise. Each wing has its own small yard and a gym, with an exercise bike and multi-gym. They can also attend classes taught by prison teachers. Many have taken Open University courses, and in republican wings, inmates often teach each other Irish and hold organised political discussions. Time is also spent going on visits, and communicating with people on the outside. Pay phones have been installed. Prisoners can also buy TVs for their cells.
The North's Security Minister, Mr Adam Ingram, has constantly stressed that the Maze is a unique jail. What differentiates it from other prisons is that the authorities are not dealing with individuals, but with members of structured paramilitary organisations acting under commanding officers, and the various groupings are segregated from one another.
From the ending of official "political status" in 1976 until 1982 the authorities tried to force loyalists and republicans to live together on the same wings. Once they lost the segregation battle they were never going to have full control. The head of the prison service in the North, Mr Alan Shannon, admitted as much in January, saying, "once that happens, then a degree of control internally is lost".
In fighting for segregation, the prisoners took advantage not just of their organised structures inside the Maze but also of the fact that their comrades on the outside were prepared to kill to back their demands. In 25 years 29 prison officers have been killed. Republicans were also prepared to die themselves in the battle for political status, as the hunger strikes showed.
Other tactics used by both sides included attacks on prison officers and on other prisoners, and the destruction of cells. The hunger strikes ended in November 1981, and segregation was conceded the following August. Spokesmen for both the IRA and the UFF inside the prison do not boast about the conditions but only of the "sacrifices" made to achieve them. In January they told journalists that it was crazy to suggest they controlled the prison. The current arrangement suits everybody and there's no point in making life more difficult for the authorities, who face constant criticism from Prison Officers' Association officials, keen to maintain staffing levels.
In recent months, many anonymous prison officers have gone to the media with stories of rave parties in the wings and sex taking place on visits. Given that inmates have smuggled in guns, and that the passing in and out of "comms" - tiny letters written on cigarette papers - occurs on a daily basis, the smuggling of small amount of drugs would not be difficult. While it is uncommon, inmates have fathered children during visits, although this is frowned upon by IRA leaders in the jail.
The Keys killing has undoubtedly caused severe embarrassment for the authorities, but it is highly unlikely that it will lead to any long-term change in the prison regime, especially given the combined pressure of Sinn Fein and loyalist parties in the talks to negotiate early releases. Spokesmen on both sides say any clampdown on conditions would be seen as "retrograde" and would have consequences for the peace process.
The NIO will point to the fact that Sir David Ramsbotham, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, is to begin a full inspection of the Maze on Monday, and a report has been carried out into the Averill escape and the Wright killing. But ultimately little can be done. A system of segregation has been established which generally works well with IRA and mainstream loyalist prisoners, and this is not the time to embark on a confrontation which could have far-reaching implications for the peace process.
