Former prisoners have both contributed to and benefited from the political advances of recent years.
Numerous important debates have had their origins in the H Blocks and those who emerged from the jails have made a positive impact in a range of different ways.
Prior to the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland, in percentage terms, had the highest prison population in Europe.
The vast majority of these individuals, both republican and loyalist, would never have found themselves in custody if it had not been for the political upheaval of the last three decades.
All were handed custodial sentences by non-jury courts and many were convicted in highly controversial circumstances.
Others also pleaded guilty to direct involvement in appalling atrocities which claimed innocent lives without the slightest justification.
Against this general background, it was essential that the Good Friday Agreement should address the future of paramilitary inmates.
Politicians on both sides of the divide, including some senior unionists, had always acknowledged the need to include prisoners in any overall settlement.
However, it was also clear that the issue of early releases had to be handled with the utmost sensitivity by all concerned.
The scenes of triumphalism engaged in by some loyalists as they gained their freedom from the Maze caused widespread and understandable disquiet.
Further concern is now being expressed over a Sinn Féin suggestion that the criminal records of former paramilitary prisoners should be completely erased from official files.
Although republicans insist that they have been pursuing this initiative for some time, it does not appear to have been consistently placed at the top of Sinn Féin's agenda.
It is also difficult to see it as a fully practical proposal, given the complex nature of employment legislation.
If a candidate for a vacancy has spent several years in jail, this period is hardly likely to be left as a blank space on their CV.
Former prisoners have demonstrated that they do have a constructive role to play in society but they also need to come to terms with their past.
An artificial attempt to pretend that certain jail sentences simply never happened would be unlikely to be in the interests of former prisoners or the wider community.
