Armagh Prison no-wash protest Armagh Prison no-wash protest The 1980–1981 Armagh Prison Dirty Protest occurred at the all-women Armagh Prison in Northern Ireland, where prisoners refused to bathe, use the lavatory, empty chamber pots, or clean their cells. This resulted in unsanitary conditions and increased abuse at the hands of the prison guards. The protest borrowed tactics previously used by male Irish republican prisoners in Long Kesh Prison (informally known as the Maze Prison), that had started in 1978. Since a hunger strike of 40 IRA prisoners in 1972, prisoners convicted as members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) had been given Special Category
Greenough Regional Prison throwing mattresses over razor wire and climbing over. The prisoners had secretly brewed the alcohol in the prison and consumed it prior to their escape. Two prisoners escaped from the minimum security section of the prison in 2008 after digging their way out under a security fence using a pool cue and a dust pan. A report released in 2010 on conditions in the prison found that conditions were degrading with overcrowding forcing up to three inmates to share cells that were designed to hold one. At the time the prison was designed to hold a total population of 219