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Description
William ‘Plum’ Smith left Ballygomartin Secondary School in Belfast after passing his O Levels and worked as an apprentice printer. Aged eighteen he was imprisoned in 1972 in Crumlin Road and Armagh Gaols and was among the first Loyalists to be transferred to the newly opened Ulster Volunteer Force/Red Hand Commando Compounds at Long Kesh (the Maze and Long Kesh Prison). He was Education Officer for the UVF/RHC Compounds where he took English classes for fellow prisoners gained an O level in Sociology and learned Irish from a Republican prisoner in an adjacent Compound. In 1974 he was in the first group of students to study Humanities ...with The Open University in Long Kesh. Plum was released in 1977 and was a member of the Loyalist delegation for the negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement. At the time of interview in 2012 he worked for EPIC (Ex-Prisoners Interpretative Centre working with ex-prisoners from an Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) or Red Hand Commando (RHC) Background). In 2014 Plum wrote an account of his life in prison entitled Inside Man: Loyalists of Long Kesh the Untold Story which was published by Colourpoint Books.
Metadata describing this person
Gender: Male
Affiliation: Loyalist
Project person ID: 047_S
Interviewee role: studied in prison, 1975-1977
Location where studied: Compounds The Maze and Long Kesh