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,
Apodaca prison riot 3 inmates were able to escape, but nothing was brought to light until the Mexican military counted the list of prisoners and noticed that three of them were missing. In Apatzingán, Michoacán on 5 January 2004, dozens of gunmen stormed a prison and released 25 inmates in only fifteen minutes before fleeing the scene. On 25 March 2010 in the city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, 40 inmates escaped from a federal prison. Authorities are still trying to understand how the prisoners escaped. The authorities mentioned that the incident is "under investigation," but did not give further information. In the border city