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
Portlaoise Prison walls, cameras, sensors and acres of tank traps (Czech hedgehog). The prison has a capacity for 399 prisoners, but because of the security sensitive nature of its inmates, it operates below this capacity and its daily average number of resident inmates was only 119 in 2009. There have been various high-profile attempts to spring prisoners from inside the walls. In 1902, the infamous criminal James Lynchehaun, who was in prison for the attempted murder of Agnes McDonnell, escaped unaided over the walls and made his way to America. The method of escape is well documented in the book, "The Playboy