Hell is a place of fire and destruction and it must be very like the former accommodation of the Loyalist Volunteer Force prisoners in the Maze prison.
Journalists were given a rare opportunity yesterday to view the damage caused by the fires started in the LVF quarters this week.
An extraordinary scene of devastation confronted reporters as they were led through the dark, waterlogged corridors of C and D wings in H-Block Six. Toilets and washstands had been torn from the walls; metal fittings had buckled under the heat; Bibles and personal items such as letters and clothing were scattered in every direction; televisions, video recorders and microwaves had all fallen victim to the prisoners' rage.
There used to be a payphone on the wall but now there is only a bunch of wires.
"This is Hell, nor am I out of it," wrote Christopher Marlowe in his play, Doctor Faustus; anyone visiting C and D wings would know what he meant.
Prison officers said the destruction was probably the worst they had ever seen. They were surprisingly relaxed considering the events of the previous 24 hours, which included gun and petrol bomb attacks on the homes of some of their colleagues. To underline the threat, an anonymous hand had written on the wall of the exercise yard: "Watch your houses, scum."
The threatening and disturbing atmosphere was not alleviated by the sight of a Fred Flintstone mini-mural engraved on one of the radiators. The cartoon character was depicted holding a rifle over the motto: "Yabba-dabba-doo, any Fenian will do."
Road signs in the picture pointed to Harryville and to the Garvaghy, Falls and Lower Ormeau Roads.
At the same time there were incongruous signs of normality, such as an Irish-English dictionary, religious reading matter and posters for Rangers football club and the Spice Girls.
Like D-Day veterans, prison staff recounted how they had repossessed the two wings. The difficulties encountered by the fire-fighters were summed-up as follows: "You've got the darkness, you've got the smell of smoke, you've got people trying to kill you."
There were slogans on the walls condemning the loyalist ceasefire and glorifying the various branches of the LVF. It will cost an estimated £250,000 to repair the damage caused by the mini-revolt of these 28 prisoners, who include some of the most-feared individuals in Northern Ireland.
A cheeky wall-slogan asked the question: "Wouldn't it have been cheaper to give us our visits?" The fierce tensions underlying the current peace in Northern Ireland were crystallised in this benighted place.
With weary resignation, prison staff said these inmates would be there for many more years and a modus vivendi would have to be worked out with them as it had been with other paramilitary prisoners.
"We have to live with them."
Leaving, one could only conclude that there will be no permanent peace in the North until all possible justification for the Maze prison has disappeared and the wretched place has been demolished brick by brick.