ni prison service collection

In 2018, the Ulster Museum received a donation from the Northern Ireland Prison Service.

Curator of Modern History, Rebecca Laverty, takes us through some items found in the NI Prison Service Collection.

The Collection

PrisonServiceCollection1 — A present gifted to "the principal and staff of the Prison Service College, Millisle."

back of a transistor radio — Back of a transistor radio that has been opened up and modified.

PrisonServiceCollection Artwork — A present gifted to a teacher "from the class of '84" at the Prison Service College, Millisle.

History of The Collection

In 2018, the Ulster Museum received a donation from the Northern Ireland Prison Service, comprising of homemade tools and weapons, uniforms, prison artwork, maps and photographs, notices, contraband, objects modified to conceal contraband and body armour. The material relates predominantly, but not exclusively, to HMP Maze.

A documentation project began to catalogue, assess and digitise each item in this large and historically significant collection.

The items in the collection are mostly from Maze/Long Kesh, but during the course of the documentation project items were found from other prisons. This includes HMP Magilligan, HMP Armagh, HMP Belfast, Derry/Londonderry Gaol, HMS Maidstone and HMS Al-Rawdah.

Rebecca Laverty

Rebecca Laverty, Curator of Modern History, takes us through some of the items found in the collection.

Rebecca is a Curator of Modern History, working with the Ulster Museum collection and covering the period 1500-1968. She is responsible for documenting the NI Prison Service collection and other large collections associated with the Troubles and Beyond initiative.

Rebecca has co-curated a number of temporary exhibitions including Faces and Places showcasing images by French photographer Bernard Lesaing, the A Collector’s Story: Tom Hartley exhibition and most recently Drawing Support: Murals, Memory and Identity which is an exhibition of photographs by Bill Rolston.

Rebecca will be speaking at the Museums Association conference in November 2024 as part of a session discsussing Challenging Approaches: creating exhibitions exploring emotive subjects.

Troubles and Beyond is a strategically important area for the Ulster Museum. It positions the museum as a safe and trusted space that encourages discovery and dialogue about the legacy of our past. This work programme will seek to amplify Ulster Museum‘s work in this area.

CPD - Prison Service Collection - CTA with Image

Explore the Collection

Explore the collection on our online database. The images included are a representative sample of the collection, which currently numbers over 600 records on our database. More images will be uploaded and further information added as the documentation process continues.

We invite community representatives and stakeholders to view the collection and will be continuing to research the items in collaboration with these partners.

If you would like to get in touch with us about any of the items you see in the video or on our collections database, please contact [email protected]