Treason Felony dates back to the Young Irelanders of 1848. In December 1954, for his part in an arms raid on Omagh army barracks, Dublin man Eamonn Boyce was convicted on three counts of this archaic offence and sentenced at the Belfast Winter Assizes to twelve years’ imprisonment. Defying the strict rules of the prison, he maintained a journal from December 1956 to September 1962. Against the odds the manuscript has survived. Written in Irish, it is a reflective account of his daily lot (prison regime; IRA command structures; education; relations with his fellow prisoners and staff). It is an insider’s perspective on the unfolding IRA campaign gleaned from newly arrived prisoners, secret correspondence with the IRA and the latest news reports on a smuggled and cleverly hidden transistor radio. Within the bleak confines of Crumlin Road prison he set down hopes, dreams and fears. The diary became an indispensable tool to keep human dignity alive
