HM Prison Maze name. Republican and loyalist prisoners were housed according to group. They organised themselves along military lines and exercised wide control over their respective H-Blocks. The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) leader Billy Wright was shot dead in December 1997 by two Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) prisoners. The prisoners also played a significant role in the Northern Ireland peace process. On 9 January 1998, the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mo Mowlam, paid a surprise visit to the prison to talk to members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) including Johnny Adair, Sam "Skelly" McCrory and Michael Stone. They
History of Fremantle Prison enquiry investigated the Fremantle Prison riot that occurred at the start of the year. The report suggested that little evidence supported the escape plan theory reported by the media, but that the riot was largely the result of an incident of that morning involving the mistreatment of a prisoner and his subsequent release into Three Division yard. The state government made the decision to decommission Fremantle Prison in 1983, but it remained in operation until 30 November 1991. Prisoners were moved to a new metropolitan maximum security prison at Casuarina and the prison was transferred to the Building Management Authority.