Introduction

The Prisons Memory Archive is a collection of 170 filmed interviews inside Armagh Gaol and the Maze and Long Kesh Prison. Utilising protocols of inclusivity, co-ownership and life-storytelling, the PMA recorded participants, including prison staff, prisoners, chaplains, teachers and visitors, as they walked-and-talked their way around the empty sites of these prisons, which had operated during the political violence of the last third of the 20th century in Northern Ireland.

Cahal McLaughlin

Cahal is a documentary filmmaker with 20 years of broadcast and community production experience. He is Professor of Film Studies at Queen’s University Belfast and is Director of the Prisons Memory Archive. His writing includes Recording Memories from Political Conflict: a filmmakers journey. Intellect: Bristol (2010) and his films include We Never Give Up II (2012) on reparations after apartheid; produced by the Human Rights Media Centre, Cape Town.