Another issue under Thatcher’s time was the Irish Hunger Strikes. After the government removed the “Special Category Status” in prisons in 1976, Irish Republicans started protesting. They wanted to regain the status as Prisoners of War and the benefits this status gave. Among these benefits were the right not to do prison work and not to wear a prison uniform. Some prisoners refused to wear the issued clothes and wrapped themselves in blankets, and later they refused to wash themselves. Five years went by without leeway from the government and in response, the Irish prisoners went on a hunger strike in October 1980. The strikes was called off after only 53 days, when the prisoners thought they had won. However, they had not and another strike
