Larry Marley to come to fruition, he joined the blanket protest in the Maze's H-Blocks for four years. In September 1983, he helped Brendan McFarlane, Bobby Storey and Gerry Kelly to orchestrate the successful mass escape of 38 republican prisoners from the Maze. It was the largest prison escape in British penal history. According to a BBC documentary about the escape, Marley was the mastermind, having come up with the idea with the aim of embarrassing British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, as the Maze was considered to be one of the world's most secure prisons. Marley, unlike his three co-conspirators, did not
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