Prison constantly reminds people about how their life could be. It allows you to see how good it is outside, but it never lets you get a taste of the real world, aggravating the prisoners. The pleasures of being free, of doing what you want are powerful. It is inevitable that someone in a prison begin to feel like they are missing out on the world or that they are being cheated. Prisons function to contain what society doesn’t want. It is a sort of waste bin for people. In Ireland, however, prisons were the source of change and revolution. Gerry Adams and Bobby Sands show that language is a powerful tool to resist imprisonment. British prisons tended to treat its prisoners very roughly. Specifically, Irish political prisoners that refused to be characterized as criminals received treatment that is simply torturous. However, the Irish had a tool that the British didn’t, the Gaelic language. In Cage Eleven, by Gerry Adams, we are invited into the world of British imprisonment through many short stories. The book is of great significance as it raises the curtain and reveals what is hidden behind the cold walls of Long Kesh Prison.

The most important tool prisoners can utilize to resist is their words. Without the means to rally together, the resources to organize and the freedom to do what they want, language is the only means they have of resistance. Having the ability to say anything is fundamental, by creating their own slang and speaking in Gaelic, they can escape the conformity the guards force on them.  The words they use creates a different world for the prisoners, it puts them in control and allows them to express the little freedom they have. In Cage Eleven, the prisoners refer to the guards as “screws” (Adams 17). Using this word is important to their resistance because it separates themselves from the guards. By not calling guards “guards”, they are refusing to recognize the guards for what they are. Instead of being guards that control their lives, they are something different and a lot less threatening and controlling. In this case, they recognize the guards as screws, an arbitrary tool that has no meaning, has no power and is expendable. It turns a scary powerful villain into an insignificant piece of metal. Denying a person’s identity is only one strategy prisoners use to resist.

One of the most important and effective tools the Irish prisoners have is the Gaelic language. Being in a British prison allows them the advantage of being able to use a language the British don’t understand. This allows them to talk freely among themselves without the guards knowing what they are saying. The peace and freedom this awards them allows them to feel more comfortable and in control of their situation. The Gaelic word “poitín” is the name of a whiskey the prisoners make (Adams 43). Normally, they wouldn’t be able to talk about making whiskey or talk about where they are hiding it or let each other know about it because the guards would be able to easily find the alcohol and punish the prisoners. However, the prisoners can say whatever they want and they can openly talk to each other and ignore the fact that the guards are there because they know that the guards can’t understand them. This secrecy allows for open discussion between the prisoners that cannot be understood by the guards. Being able to say whatever they want to each other is very enjoyable for the prisoners, but it can also serve a purpose that is much more useful.

Bobby Sands and his fellow prisoners found other ways they can use their communication to interact with each other. Irish political prisoners, like Sands, were treated very poorly in British prisons. They were considered terrorists and dangerous figures to the public. This gave the guards all the justification they needed to treat the prisoners any way they wanted. The prisoners were constantly subjected to body cavity checks and forced to clean the inside of their cells with chemicals that irritated their eyes and made it almost impossible to get a good night sleep. This forced the prisoners to develop a system of warning everyone that guards were coming. Their system allowed it so that they could warn everyone when a guard was coming into their cell block and what they were doing. They would say, “Bears in the air! Heavy gear!” (Sands 76). This warned that there were guards entering and that they had cleaning supplies. This warning gave people time to either put away any contraband they had and told them to prepare for the cleaning supplies that would be forced into their cells. When the hose that was spraying the chemicals into their cells was seen, someone would say, “Hose in the air!” (Sands 77). This was the warning that told everyone to prepare to be sprayed with the chemicals that were meant to clean the cells, but made it hard to breathe, see and induced vomiting (Sands 77). This warning system was crucial not only for the well being of the prisoners but also for the teamwork that seamed undeniably invaluable to the prisoners. To get through and survive prison, they had to work together and help each other out as much as possible by communicating and warning each other about what was to come.

Besides verbally communicating, the prisoners made a system of delivery that made it possible for people to pass materials to each other. Every month Sands could see his family and talk with them for a half hour. On one occasion, his parents brought tobacco and rolling paper with them to give to him. Sands managed to successfully smuggle back into his cell and decided that he wanted to share his cigarettes with everyone in his cell block who smoked. To accomplish this, he needed the help of nearly everyone in the cell block. First, he needed to attach the cigarettes to a string and swing them out the window in a way that the man in the next to him could catch it and deliver it down the line. Once it got all the way down the line, one man would send a “shot” across the hallway and make a connection between both sides of the cell block. Then, the person receiving the shot could be delivered the contraband and then could pass down his side of the cell block (Sands 70). This intricate system of passing along contraband required a lot of communication and practice for those involved. Done successfully and the prisoners could enjoy a cigarette to themselves and resist their imprisonment by enjoying a cigarette. Without communicating and coordinating between the prisoners, this victory would not have been possible.