This photograph is of 'Joe Doherty Corner', which is beside the Federal Detention Center in Lower Manhattan. Joe Doherty was an Irish Republican who was arrested and detained for over 9 years by the US government in the 1980's and 90's. He had never committed any crime nor was charged with having committed an offence in the US. He was held pending extradition to the UK where he was wanted by the British government for past activities directed against the British presence in Northern Ireland. The US has no formal extradition treaty with the UK, and yet despite this continued to hold Joe until he was finally extradited in the mid 1990's. The campaign for his release from the Federal Detention Center won him thousands of supporters, reaching beyond the Irish community in the US to African Americans, Puerto Ricans and Native Americans. When he was finally extradited to the UK many congresspeople and elected officials openly supported the case for his freedom. The sign marking the corner was erected by his supporters and city officials and remains as a testimony to the scale of support his case gained during the camapign to have him freed. Upon his hand over to the British authorities he was again imprisoned. He was released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 and currently works as a youth worker in his native Belfast.

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