Portlaoise Prison
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Portlaoise Prison (Irish: Príosún Phort Laoise) is a maximum security prison in Portlaoise, County Laois, Ireland. Until 1929 it was called the Maryborough Gaol. It should not be confused with the Midlands Prison, which is a newer, medium security prison directly beside it; or with Dunamaise Arts Centre, which was the original Maryborough Gaol built c. 1789.
Portlaoise Prison was built in the 1830s, making it one of the oldest still operating today in the Irish prison system. It is the prison in which people convicted of membership of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and other illegal paramilitary and designated terrorist organisations are usually detained.
A number of IRA and
Soldiers from the Irish Army patrol Portlaoise Prison on a permanent basis.
Security
Soldiers guard the prison 24 hours a day. The security features include a detachment consisting of approximately platoon strength, armed with rifles and anti-aircraft machine guns, who patrol the prison complex. An air exclusion zone operates over the entire complex. The perimeter consists of high walls, cameras and sensors.
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.[2]
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 and the Yellow Lady and made headlines worldwide.[3]
In 1974, nineteen Irish Republican prisoners broke out in a daylight escape.[4]
On Friday 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 and the hostages were freed, all of them unharmed.[5]
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 into the prison yard. As the prisoners entered the yard, Irish soldiers opened fire on the inmates, shooting Smith in the head.[6]
In November 1985, an IRA mass breakout failed when a bomb, which had been assembled within the prison itself, failed to detonate at the prison gates.[7]
Controversy
During the 1970s and 1980s the prison was noted for the harsh treatment meted out towards prisoners. In 1977 a number of prisoners went on hunger strike demanding a public enquiry into conditions in the prison.
In 1946
In 1984 the Assistant General Secretary of the
Conditions within the prison improved after the death of Governor Reilly and the appointment of John Lonergan as Governor of the prison.[citation needed]
In May 2007, an inmate named John Daly, who was serving 9 years for armed robbery, called the RTÉ radio show
This phone call resulted in a major clampdown in all Irish prisons and over 1,300 pieces of contraband being confiscated. Items confiscated in the cell-by-cell searches included numerous mobile phones, plasma televisions and even a budgie which was smuggled into the prison by a visitor who hid the bird internally in her vagina.[13]
John Daly received many death threats from fellow inmates after calling the show and as a result was transferred to other prisons twice before his release in October 2007. A few weeks after his release, he was murdered in Finglas after a night out.[14]
Notable inmates
- Angelo Fusco
- Martin Ferris
- Dessie O'Hare
- John Gilligan
- Sean McCaughey
- Richard Goss
- George Plant
- Michael McKevitt
- Paul Magee
- Dominic McGlinchey
- James "Jim" McCann
- Thomas Murphy
- James Lynchehaun (escaped successfully 6 September 1902)
- Gerry “The Monk” Hutch
See also
- Prisons in Ireland
- Midlands Prison
References
- ^ €240,700 to keep a prisoner in Portlaoise Archived 29 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Irish Prison Service (2010). Annual Report (PDF). Dublin. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 May 2011.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ "Hero or villain? The gruesome tale of the 'real' Playboy of the Western World". independent.
- ^ "IRA Prisoners Escape From". RTÉ Archives.
- ^ "A Chronology of the Conflict - 1974".
- ^ "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk.
- ^ The Times, 25 November 1985; pg 2 col A
- ^ "Seán McCaughey 75th anniversary".
- ^ McKenna, J. (2016), The IRA Bombing Campaign Against Britain, 1939-1940. McFarland Incorporated Publishers. Jefferson NC, pg. 154, ISBN 9781476623726
- ISBN 0-86322-351-6.
- ^ Evening Press 24 May 1984
- ^ Irish Examiner - Criminal calls RTÉ’s Liveline from prison cell - 2 May 2007 Archived 26 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Jailbird, phones, drugs found in prison". independent.
- ^ Byrne, Ciaran (23 October 2007). "The life and crimes of a thug with big ambitions". Irish Independent..