In the fall of 1920, during the Tan War, the British had withdrawn political status, which had been won after the death of Thomas Ashe in 1917 and after the 2-week mass hunger strike in Mountjoy Jail in April of 1920. On the 11th of August, a mass strike was once again initiated, this time in Cork Jail, when 60 IRA members, most of whom were held without charge or trial, demanded reinstatement of political status and release. The British, having hardened their attitude against status following the April strikes, opted to risk the deaths of pows rather than make concessions. In the weeks that followed, the British released or transferred many of the 60 until only 11 were left. Three of these were Terence McSwiney, (who had joined the strike on the 12th of August, the day after it had begun) Michael Fitzgerald, and Josephy Murphy. On the 16th of August, McSwiney was sentenced to 2 years but said his strike would continue, and he was deported to Brixton that very night. Following McSwiney's death, the hunger strike in Cork Jail continued for a further three weeks, and following a request from Arthur Griffith, acting President of the Irish Republic, the remaining nine prisoners on hunger strike ended their fast on 12 November 1920.

1923 IRA Hunger Strike In Feb of 1923, 23 members of Cumann na mBan (including Mary and Annie MacSwiney, Lily Brennan and Nellie Ryan, sister-in-law of the Free State's Commander-in-Chief and Defence Minister Richard Mulcahy) went on strike for 34 days over illegal arrest and imprisonment without trial of prisoners. The strike resulted in the release of the women hunger-strikers. On 23 May 1923, the Irish Civil War officially ended, but the state continued to go after republicans, keeping 12,000 men and women in prison and persecuting and harrassing countless others. By October of 1923 tension was at an all-time high in the prisons and camps because of conditions and with no release in sight. On 13 October 1923, Michael Kilroy, OC of the IRA pows in Mountjoy, announced a mass strike by 300 prisoners, and it soon spread to other jails, and within days 7,033 republicans were on hunger strike. The figures given by Sinn Féin at the time were Mountjoy Jail 462; Cork Jail 70; Kilkenny Jail 350; Dundalk Jail 200; Gormanstown Camp 711; Newbridge Camp 1,700; Tintown 1,2,3, Curragh Camp 3,390; Harepark Camp 100; and, 50 women in the North Dublin Union. Previously, the Free State Government had passed a motion outlawing the release of prisoners on hunger strike, and Dan Downey and Joseph had died before the October strike. However, because of the large numbers of republicans on strike, at the end of October they sent a delegation to Newbridge Camp to speak with IRA leaders there. It soon became apparent that they were not there to negotiate the strikers' demands, but rather to give the prisoners the government's message: "we are not going to force feed you, but if you die we won't waste coffins on you; you will be put in orange boxes and you will be buried in unconsecrated ground." The negotiations were abandoned and the strike went forward. Poorly planned, within weeks many were going off strike, and in Cork those who went off strike said they'd been promised that 33 of their comrades would be released within 48 hours and the rest within 3 weeks. By the end of October, there were still 5,000 on strike. With the deaths of Barry and Sullivan drawing no positive response or concessions from the Free State government, the IRA command ordered the strikes ended on the 23rd of November. While the strike itself failed to win releases, it did begin a slow start of a programme of release of prisoners, the state being worried about the political impact of more deaths, though some prisoners remained in jail until as late as 1932. Lack of adequate medical attention given to strikers, health complications from the strikes, and the deplorable conditions in which the prisoners were held led to the untimely deaths shortly after the strikes of many, including May Zambra and Joe Lacey.