Dark cages of Irish history

ONE hundred and three years ago Richard Twohig wrote his last ever letter from inside the walls of Kilmainham Gaol.

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It read: "I am in the best of spirits. Long live Ireland. God bless you, Mother, and the children. Goodbye. Ireland first, and Ireland last, and Ireland over all. I hope Ireland will be free soon."

The 21-year-old was among four members of the Anti-Treaty IRA who were shot by firing squad in the prison on November 17, 1922, for carrying revolvers on the streets of Dublin.

Out of the four men, Richard's letter was the shortest. But his wish was clear, he was willing to die for Irish freedom.

As I stand in the Stonebreakers' Yard on a busy August morning, it's hard to fathom that men were shot and killed here just over a century ago.

It isn't a piece of Ireland's medieval past. And either is much of the jail's sordid history, which saw prisoners crammed into small cells, and public hangings and political executions.

Opened in 1796, Kilmainham Gaol, known then as 'the New Gaol', was established as part of the prison reform movement led by John Howard.

At the time, prisons had unhealthy and cruel conditions, with petty criminals and children put in the same rooms as murderers.

This new jail was supposed to be more humane, with prisoners having their own cell. But Mr Howard could not have predicted how it would play out.

When the Famine began in 1845, it became illegal to beg on the streets. This led to massive overcrowding in the prison system.

Children and adults were crammed into Kilmainham's small cells, with many starving people wanting to be imprisoned so they would get fed a basic diet of bread, milk and gruel.