The Psychology of a Hunger Striker:
Factors Influencing the Death
of Bobby Sands MP

"King:...He has chosen death:
Refusing to eat or drink, that he may bring
Disgrace upon me; for there is a custom,
An old and foolish custom; that if a man
Be wronged, or think that he is wronged,
And starve upon another's threshold till he die,
The Common People, for all time to come,
Will raise a heavy cry against that threshold,
Even though it be the King's."

from The King's Threshold by W.B. Yeats

"It is not those who inflict the most but those who endure the most who will conquer in the end."

-- Terence McSwiney

"Supposing you were in Bobby Sands' shoes, kicked out of your home twice, threatened, beaten up, stabbed and intimidated out of your job and livelihood, what exactly would you do?"

-- John Feehan (1983)

This paper is not, however, a discussion of history. While history played an important part in the decisions Sands made in his life, primarily he was influenced by his perception of his surroundings, of his environment. It was not until after Sands joined the IRA and was subsequently imprisoned that he learned of the deeper political traditions between England and Ireland. Before he was subjected to discrimination and violence, Sands was a normal child developing in a fairly normal environment.

It is the intent of this paper to illustrate the infrastructure which supported the beliefs of Bobby Sands and ultimately led to his martyr's death. Not included in the main text of this report but still relevant to it include some visual aids showing how Sands perceived his world, how others perceived Sands and related topics. Also included as appendices are some of Sands' writings and thoughts and a timeline of Irish history.

(Note: Although the war in Ireland is often described as Catholics versus Protestants, it is not in fact a religious war. Irish people are indeed discriminated against because of their race and religion, but those nationalists who battle the British Army and their loyalist followers do so in defense of these security forces' aggressions and not over Christian principles.)

In North Belfast, 1954, Bobby Sands was born as the first child of John and Rosaleen Sands. He was followed by two sisters, Marcella and Bernadette, and a brother, Sean. For his first six years of life, Sands enjoyed the peaceful surroundings his mainly Protestant community afforded him. A lifelong love of nature and, specifically of birds, developed in these first few, carefree days of his youth. Picnicking at the park offered Sands opportunities for enjoying the outdoors and the freedom it provided. This spirit of freedom and peace of mind remained with Sands through all the years of torture, discrimination and inhumane conditions which characterized his later life. Such horrendous treatment would have broken many, but it never extinguished the fire of love Sands had for his people and his cause, an Irish tradition as old as England's 800 year occupation of the island. (Beresford 1987 and Feehan 1983)

It was not long before the Sands family experienced firsthand the anti-Catholic sentiments of their neighbors. For a number of years, Bobby's parents had quietly practiced their Catholic faith. But, when Bobby was around age seven, his mother was mimicked by Protestant women in the neighborhood to such an extent that her ensuing emotional stress forced the family to move. They relocated in another predominately Protestant area. It was here that Sands personally experienced the nature of the hatred with which he and countless other Catholics became altogether too familiar. At age fifteen Sands quit school and got a job as an apprentice in a coach-building company. Not long afterward, Sands was attacked by a couple of knifemen, receiving some wounds. Often, Sands was forced to escape from Protestant gangs in his neighborhood as well as receive verbal abuse directed at the Catholic population. Finally, the Sands family was forced to move again after the house they were living in was "sold" to a Protestant couple without the Sands' putting it up for sale! (Beresford 1987) From here, the family settled into a Catholic housing area in West Belfast. The year was 1972 and within months Sands joined the IRA. (Beresford 1987)

Much has been said about the Irish Republican Army. Much more needs to be revealed about who the IRA is and for what exactly do they stand. The IRA shares in the ancient tradition of Irish rebellion, as opponents to British rule. They see themselves as protectors of all things Irish (language, history and culture) and as the catalyst to a united Ireland where true democracy will flourish once the British are forced out. The IRA to which Bobby Sands belonged was reorganized after an extended dormancy in direct response to violence against the Catholics by loyalists and the British Army. It was the police (Royal Ulster Constabulary or RUC) doing nothing short of supporting the latter two that launched the IRA on defensive. Many acts of violence against Catholics occurred while they were rallying peacefully for full civil rights, just as the blacks were doing in the United States. The most brutal and globally shocking attack on these demonstrators occurred on 30 January 1972 in Derry, a day known as Bloody Sunday. During a peaceful (though prohibited) march protesting internment without trial, 14 people were shot and fatally wounded by the trained killers of Britain's SAS (Special Air Services). According to the Derry City Coroner, Hubert O'Neill, the Army was "...shooting innocent people...I say it without reservation--it was sheer, unadulterated murder." While most of the world was distant to the problems faced by Ireland's northeastern population, Sands and his people realized them daily. (Conroy 1987)

As a newly deputized defender of his community, Sands, like his comrades, was trained in the secrecy which enshrouds the IRA. What can be known is that the IRA follows a strict military code and those not disciplined enough to meet its standards do not get in. Traditionally a guerrilla army, the IRA had evolved into a sophisticated and well informed foe of the British Army and those who posed a threat to them. An often overlooked point, but crucial to any argument one entertains in regard to the IRA is the role of the community as supporter of the IRA. Much of the world's media would lead one to believe that the IRA has no base of support from within their communities and that they are, in effect, a loose bunch of renegade terrorists. The truth of the matter is that without safe houses, food, drivers and middlemen, an active volunteer of the IRA would not exist.

Since England, until recently, enjoyed the status of a super power nation and remains a close ally to the United States, its media and political propaganda machinery play a very instrumental part in maintaining the IRA in a negative light. It is Britain's influence over a majority of the world's press that has the IRA labeled as terrorists and at the same time denies the IRA a voice to defend its actions. Even Sinn Fein ("shin fane"), a political ally of the IRA is denied access to radio, television and newspapers under what amounts to laws of censorship authored by the "democracy" of Great Britain. Herein lay the problems for Sands and his IRA. With no effective way to gain help, even from the Irish Free State (the 26 counties of Ireland other than the 6 Britain claims), the IRA was forced to defend their communities militarily and at the cost of world opinion. Later, when Sands went on hunger strike, the world learned more about the IRA's motivation which for so long had been suppressed by Britain. Just as the IRA in the Seventies was determined to break England's stranglehold on their communities, England resolved itself to destroy popular support for the IRA. This last step involved criminalizing the IRA by stripping away their political status, a pressure not to be enforced lightly. In perspective of the truly political nature of the IRA, the words of an IRA volunteer speak for the entire movement: "Criminals. Criminals are in it for gain! What have I gained? How have we profited? Why would we experience the physical and mental torment? The best any of us can hope for is torture and death." (Strong 1989)

The means to implement England's criminalization policy included: internment without trial (1971), Diplock courts (1972), The Prevention of Terrorism Act (1975) and the use of a suspect's silence during interrogation to incriminate them. Internment, in effect, allowed the security forces to arrest men and women without charge and to detain them for up to four years. Diplock courts are juryless and usually presided over by loyalist judges. Convictions in these courts can be given on uncorroborated testimony and even by paid perjurers if not by the forced confessions of those on trial. Ninety-four percent of 568 cases heard in the first six months of 1978 resulted in convictions in these courts. The Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) allows security forces to search homes without warning or reason and at any time. The PTA also took over where internment left off, allowing the RUC to arrest anyone under "suspicion" without charge for up to seven days. The detained may not consult a lawyer until after 48 hours and a security force member is permitted to be present when the prisoner consults with their lawyer. The suspect can then be charged, without bail, and imprisoned for up to two years before a trial is set. (Rice 1985)

Bobby Sands was arrested later in 1972 and taken to an RUC interrogation center--a thinly disguised torture chamber aimed at producing confessions from nationalists. In these Stalinesque police centers, suspects could expect psychological torture such as Russian roulette, beatings performed in darkness, threats against the detainee's family and the use of drugs. More common was physical torture such as constant beatings--being relentlessly punched and kicked. Kidneys and testicles were the common subject of most of these beatings. Cattle prods and instruments forced into the anus were also utilized for no practical purpose. But the IRA were trained soldiers and expected such fate if caught. Very few cracked under the immense pressure. (Feehan 1983)

Having survived his stay at the interrogation center, Sands was brought to trial, succeeded in getting a retrial and then sentenced to five years in Long Kesh prison on dubious charges.

Long Kesh, known as the Maze to most of the world and a concentration camp to those familiar with its inner-workings, is just outside of Belfast. (By the time Sands re-entered Long Kesh for his second stay, the prison had been rebuilt. It now consists of a series of twelve buildings that when viewed from the air look like letter H's. Hence the prisoners during Sands' hunger strike and today, refer to the buildings as the H-Blocks.) To an Irish Republican prisoner, the Kesh is truly the University of Freedom. Because of the discrimination against them, many Catholics had not received a higher level of education. Instead, their lives were caught in the seemingly endless violence around them.

So it was with little formal education that Sands entered Long Kesh for the first of his two stays. The second time, with the construction of the H-Blocks completed, would be radically different from the first and would see Sands die.

It was this first stay in Long Kesh where Sands became increasingly more familiar with the politics, language, culture and history of the Irish. While his original motivation to join the IRA was one of defense, his stay in the Kesh made him more aware of the reasons behind the republican values for which the IRA stood. Simply stated, Sands began to realize the just cause of Irish self-determination and to see more clearly the repeated steps of successive British governments to deny the Irish of their heritage.

Within the prison, the IRA maintained a strict command structure. Lessons in the Irish language and history were required for all republican prisoners. Sands and his comrades were, at least during his first stay, recognized as political prisoners. Thanks largely in part to another hunger striker, Billy McKee, prisoners in the Kesh were granted five basic rights. These rights which set the prisoners, both republican and loyalist, apart from "common criminals" included:

• the right to wear their own clothes
• the right to abstain from prison work
• the right to associate freely within their own particular prison confine
• the right to use educational and recreational areas
• the right to full remission on their sentences for good behavior.

These conditions were experienced for the three and a half years of Sands' first stay in Long Kesh. Sands ma