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 and the Yellow Lady" and made headlines worldwide. In 1974, nineteen Republican prisoners escaped in one daylight escape. On Friday the 29 December 1974 Provisional IRA prisoners held several prison officers hostage and caused considerable destruction to their wing in a protest for better living conditions inside the jail. Irish Army soldiers were used to regain control & the hostages were freed all of them unharmed. In 1975, during an attempted escape, Tom Smith of the IRA's Dublin Brigade was shot dead by the Irish Defence Forces. The prisoners had blasted their way through a door in the recreation area