Available onlineOU study 1983-2000
(page 2 of 5)Online exhibition theme created by Jenny Meegan, a member of the OU Time to Think Project Team
| Lorcan Fairmichael image : | H Block interior |
| Date: | 2011 |
| Michael Culbert clip: | Cascading the Social Sciences in the H Blocks |
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| Duration: | 00:01:52 |
| Date: |
| Martin Snoddon clip: | That whole sense of achieving something |
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| Duration: | 00:02:25 |
| Date: |
In 1984 there were eighteen OU students in the Compounds of the Maze Long Kesh Prison. Another thirty-seven students were taking OU short courses such as 'Health Choices', 'The Pre-School Child', 'Children 5-10' and 'Caring for Older People.' Another six OU students were studying in Magilligan, five in Crumlin Road and one woman was studying in Armagh Gaol.
In the H Blocks of the Maze Long Kesh Prison twenty-six students were studying in 1984. Nine of the Loyalist students were on protest that year and so not allowed to study. Fifteen Republicans were studying the Social Sciences Foundation Course, D102. One of these was Michael Culbert who describes studying in 1984 in the first audio clip on this page.
In 1985 numbers in the H Blocks increased further and fifty-eight Republican and Loyalist students studied formally with The Open University. This represented ten percent of those imprisoned there and this percentage was maintained until the end of the 1980s. Many more people were studying The OU informally, mainly in the Republican Wings, taught by their fellow students and using their OU course materials.
In the Compounds in 1985 there were twenty-six OU students. Five students from the UVF Compound (Compound 21) graduated in 1987. One of these graduates, Martin Snoddon, describes his OU journey in the second clip on this page.
By 1987 a total of nineteen OU students (mainly from the Compounds), having been released, had gone to full time University study - three of whom were studying at postgraduate level.
