#Monument
Political prisoners plaque
This memorial tablet, installed in 1995, marks the location of the former Newgate Street Prison – otherwise known as Gloucester Street prison - where hundreds of Jersey people were incarcerated for acts of defiance and disobedience during the German Occupation of Jersey, 1940 to 1945.
Islanders imprisoned by the German forces for acts of resistance referred to themselves as ‘political prisoners’ - one such person was Joe Mière, who for many years campaigned for this plaque to be erected.
Joe was first arrested in October 1941 for insulting a German officer, and was again arrested in September 1942 when demonstrating against the deportation of British-born Channel Islanders to Germany. Eventually Joe was imprisoned on 13 February 1945, for a term of 18 months, for anti-German demonstrations and insulting the occupying forces. He was released on 7 May 1945, two days prior to the Island‘s Liberation.
In a newspaper article published in 1995, Mr Mière wrote: ‘If you were caught with a crystal radio set or defacing Nazi posters, or disregarded the orders of the authorities in some other way, you could have found yourself in one of the 10 ft by 8 ft cells, usually holding four detainees each. People from all walks of life found themselves in there. Often many members of one family spent a spell at the jail’.