Provisional Irish Republican Army 1982, reflecting the sequence in which the old leadership of the republican movement were being sidelined. IRA prisoners convicted after March 1976 did not have Special Category Status applied in prison. In response, more than 500 prisoners refused to wear prison clothes. This activity culminated in the 1981 Irish hunger strike, when seven IRA and three Irish National Liberation Army members starved themselves to death in pursuit of political status. The hunger strike leader Bobby Sands and Anti H-Block activist Owen Carron were elected to the British Parliament, and two other protesting prisoners were elected to the Dáil. In addition,
HM Melbourne Assessment Prison to provide statewide assessment and orientation services for all male prisoners received into the prison system. In 1997 the prison became the main reception prison for all male prisoners in Victoria. Initial planning for the prison commenced in 1974. Construction commenced in December 1983 and was completed in 1989 at a cost of A$80m. The prison was officially opened on 6 April 1989, and received its first prisoners on 29 May 1989. At least two prisoners have escaped from the Melbourne Assessment Prison. In one incident explosives smuggled into the unit were used to blow open the armored plastic windows