Pat Sheehan (Irish republican) Pat Sheehan (Irish republican) Pat Sheehan (born 1958) is a Sinn Féin politician in Northern Ireland, and former Provisional Irish Republican Army hunger striker at the Maze Prison. Sheehan was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. In 1978 he was convicted of causing an explosion and sentenced to 15 years. Sheehan was the 17th republican inmate at the Maze Prison to join the 1981 hunger strikes, which was aimed at gaining political status for Provisional IRA and Irish National Liberation Army prisoners. He began fasting on 10 August - after nine prisoners had already starved themselves to death - and ended
Dispersal prison core selection of five still remaining. During the 1960s in Britain, several notorious and high-profile prisoners escaped from jails across the United Kingdom (Charles Wilson, Ronnie Biggs and George Blake). After the sensational escape of George Blake, a report was commissioned by the government to be chaired by Earl Mountbatten. The report recommended that all prisoners be categorised either A, B, C or D, according to their security risk, escape risk and danger to the general public. Category A prisoners were those deemed to be the worst and Category D prisoners were afforded the right to wander around the prison