Séamus McElwaine judge describing him as a "dangerous killer" and recommending he spend at least 30 years in prison. On 25 September 1983, McElwaine was involved in the Maze Prison escape, the largest break-out of prisoners in Europe since World War II and in British prison history. 38 republican prisoners, armed with 6 handguns, hijacked a prison meals lorry and smashed their way out of the Maze prison. After the escape he joined an IRA Active Service Unit operating in the area of the border between Counties Monaghan and Fermanagh. The unit targeted police and military patrols with gun and bomb attacks,
Massacre in the Mokotów prison offences, were also detained at Rakowiecka Street. The prison was quickly filled and the number of detainees far exceeded its standard capacity. Many Polish employees of the prison secretly cooperated with the underground Service for Poland's Victory - later with the Home Army. Thanks to their help, many people involved in underground activity managed to leave the prison. In the summer of 1944, the prison was under the authority of Commissioner Hitzinger. On July 23, 1944, in connection with the approaching Eastern Front, the release of prisoners sentenced to imprisonment for up to five years began - mainly Germans and