Hidden camera photograph taken in the Maze Prison, Long Kesh, County Antrim

Photograph of Michael (Mickey) Culbert (left) and Laurence McKeown (right) taken in an exercise yard in H-Block 4 in 1982/3 shortly after the hunger strike in the Maze/Long Kesh Prison, County Antrim. Laurence was still recovering from the effects of being on hunger strike the previous year.

The photograph was taken by a fellow republican prisoner with a smuggled camera. Prisoners and their families were not allowed to take photographs. After entering prison the only photographs taken of prisoners were those made by the prison authorities for official and security purposes. After a campaign for improved conditions in the 1980’s this rule was relaxed.