It was a prison within a detention center within a British army camp.
It had barbed wire topped fences over 15 feet high.
Its concrete walls were so thick, it would take an air strike to penetrate them.
Maze Prison was inescapable- until it wasn't.
Opened in 1971, Maze prison was created to house Irish Republican Army prisoners during
the Troubles that plagued Great Britain and Ireland in the late 20th century.
The prison however quickly drew the ire of locals as the British enacted a policy of
imprisonment without trial for anyone suspected of being part of the IRA.
Shockingly for a modern Democratic nation, this policy would continue for four four years
until it was terminated in 1975.
Designed to hold Britain's public enemies number one, Maze prison consisted of several
prison blocks, or wings, which were each a self-contained prison.
Prisoners never needed to leave one block to visit another for any reason, and movement
within each was strictly limited and monitored by the prison staff.
Each block was surrounded by an 18 foot concrete wall (5.5 meters), and the entire prison complex
was surrounded by a 15 foot (4.6 meter) fence topped with barbed wire.
The walls of the prison were considered blast proof- given the IRA's penchant for making
explosives this was not an unreasonable precaution- and it would take a full-blown airstrike to
penetrate each block's solid concrete walls.
The gates leading in and out of each block, and into the facility itself, were all solid
steel and controlled remotely by a control center at the center of the H formation that
the prison complex formed.
It was Europe's most escape-proof prison, but the IRA had something to say about that.
The IRA viewed themselves as military combatants, and not terrorists or political prisoners
as the British government saw them.
This meant that every IRA member housed within any British prison had the same duty as a
military soldier did- escape at any cost.
Luckily for the IRA inside Maze prison, they had the perfect man to lead the effort.
Larry Marley had already been imprisoned once by the British in 1975, and while awaiting
trial in a courthouse he led nine other IRA men to freedom.
After being recaptured two years later and moved to Maze prison, he nearly escaped again
by dressing as a prison warden, even making it out of his prison block.
He was found out just before escaping the final perimeter of security though.
Still seeking to escape prison, in 1983 Marley recruited IRA members Bobby Storey, Gerry
Kelly, and Brendan McFarlene.
The men organized themselves like a military unit, with Marley in command.
Each prison block would have an escape officer, in charge of his block's men, and each block
also had an intelligence officer assigned to it, whose job was to learn as much about
the prison layout and the guards as possible.
Exactly like a military operation, information on the overall escape plan was at all times
highly compartmentalized, only those with a need-to-know were ever told the full details
of the plan.
Instead, each man involved below the commanding ranks knew only as much as they needed to
in order to fulfill their role.
This would ensure that if any of the men were captured, the likelihood of the plan being
exposed would be greatly reduced.
The first step was to learn the layout of the prison facility.
Despite being imprisoned within, the men actually knew little about how the prison was laid
out.
The British authorities were extremely careful to keep the prisoners from discovering the
layout of the prison, even moving prisoners between buildings in blacked-out vans.
The escapees however would get around this lack of information by enlisting help from
the outside.
As they were still allowed visitation rights, family members would smuggle in aerial photographs
printed in the media as well as ordnance survey maps.
Now the prisoners knew where they were being held and which way led to freedom, but the
next step of the plan might be even more difficult than the escape itself.
For years the IRA had conducted blanket protests within Maze prison.
Seeing themselves as political prisoners, and not normal criminals, they had for a long
time been allowed special privileges and the right to not wear the standard prison uniform.
Things changed in 1976 however, when the British government stripped these privileges away
from IRA combatants, labeling them as common criminals.
In outcry, IRA prisoners had refused to wear their uniforms and instead took to wearing
their sleeping blankets instead.
To further voice their dissent, they undertook several years of 'dirty protests' within Maze
prison, with prisoners smearing the walls of their cells with their own excrement, and
attacking the guards with bodily fluids.
This had left a deep enmity and open hatred between the guards and the prisoners, and
if this prison escape was to succeed, the IRA had to change this relationship dramatically.
The goal was to learn the weaknesses of each individual guard, and how they might be best
overcome or manipulated.
Prisoners began to call guards by their first names, and actively worked to resolve conflicts
between the guards and other prisoners in order to ingratiate themselves to the guards.
They would chat about their shared love of football to the guards, and even engage in
small kindnesses like making tea for them while on their assigned duties.
Despite resistance from other Irish nationalists in the prison, the plan slowly began to work.
Many guards remained suspicious, but many more began to believe that they had at last
broken their prisoners, and began to slowly reveal small details of the function of the
prison such as when shift changes happened and when the prison was most busy.
The improved behavior of the prisoners led the authorities to grant them special jobs
such as working as orderlies around the prison complex.
This allowed the would-be escapees to better learn the layout of the prison complex, gain
more information on the guards, and even afforded them access to some of the control rooms.
Sent to polish the floors and clean the general area, the escapees had full views of the security
cameras and could learn even more details about the prison and more importantly what
the cameras did or did not see.
The kindness offensive was working to such a degree, that prison guards even began to
leave the door open to some of the control rooms, allowing air into the stuffy rooms.
Armed with months of information, the commanding officers of the escape began to put their
plan down on paper.
They included all information they had on shift changes, patrol routes, camera blindspots,
and most importantly, alarm points from where guards could trigger an alarm.
Then, the plan was smuggled out of the prison and shown to IRA leadership on the outside,
who would have the ultimate approval over the plan.
Within days, the plan was approved.
But the escapees would need help if they were to break out.
Six guns were smuggled into Maze prison, and the exact way that they were smuggled remains
an IRA secret to this day.
The prisoners now had the intelligence and the means to take control of H7 Block of the
prison, but they still needed to figure out a way to penetrate the various layers of security
between them and the outside world.
Scaling the fences would be impossible, and even if they did they would have to contend
with armed British military guards outside, who would shoot an escapee on sight.
With no access to tools, an escape tunnel was impossible, and the thick concrete wall
outside of H7 Block couldn't be blasted open even if the IRA managed to smuggle explosives
inside.
The escapees quickly turned their attention to the food truck that brought in their meals
every day.
The truck was frequently given free pass to enter and go without being searched, as the
guards knew the sole driver of the truck very well by now.
To their further advantage, the truck also routinely made stops at every one of the Maze's
prison blocks.
It was basically a free ticket out of the prison.
On 25 September, 1983, the plan was put into action.
September 25th was a Sunday, and chosen on purpose by the escapees.
Sunday was a closed day, meaning no visits into the prison, and no movement within it.
All of the prisoners remained in their blocks, and believing the prisoners to be secure,
the guards typically relaxed.
Without as much activity in the prison, the number of prison staff was also lower than
usual.
The escape began with Brendan McFarlane scoping out the guards in the block.
He needed 12 prison guard uniforms, and needed to match 12 of the guards on duty with 12
of his men, ensuring the uniforms would fit them.
Once he'd made his selections, McFarlane began to shout for the use of a 'bumper', or the
machine used to polish the prison floors.
This was the go word, and the plan was launched into action.
The IRA had forbidden the use of the guns except unless strictly necessary, as they
wished to portray themselves in a positive light to the media.
Thus shooting or even beating the guards was prohibited unless necessary, and the prisoners
resorted to a shock and awe strategy of overwhelming the guards with verbal abuse.
Four guards were immediately captured in one room, prompting the beginning of the taking
of 17 other guards outside.
The prisoners had no way of communicating except line of sight, so one prisoner would
overpower a guard as soon as he saw another prisoner begin his attack.
The guards had to be overpowered within seconds of each other in order to prevent an alarm
from being sounded.
The group's biggest problem was prison officer John Adams, who sat inside the control room
with easy access to a phone and alarm.
A metal bar door barred their access to Adams, so Gerry Kelly was assigned to neutralize
Adam with a gun.
He slid the gun through the bars and pointed it at Adams, telling him not to move or touch
any of the alarms.
Then, an officer they hadn't expected exited the women's restroom outside the control room.
The confusion briefly drew everyone's attention away and Adams lunged for the alarm.
Kelly shot Adams twice, hitting him once right above the eye.
A glancing blow, the impact knocked Adams unconscious for thirty seconds, but he quickly
recovered.
Bleeding from the injury, the prisoners wrapped his head up and then brought all the prisoners
to a classroom where 12 were forced to strip.
12 of the IRA men put on the prison guard uniforms, and then the guards were read the
following statement: This is an IRA operation.
We're not here for revenge or to punish you over the hunger strikes, but if you interfere
with the escape, you'll be dealt with swiftly.”
In just 20 minutes, the IRA escapees had seized control of their prison block.
Next was securing their ticket out of the prison facility.
A half hour later, the food delivery truck arrived at H-block to deliver the evening's
meals.
The capture and coercion of the truck driver was vital to the plan's success, as the guards
at the gates knew the driver's face well by now.
Nobody could take his place, so securing his cooperation was vital.
After being seized by the escapees, Bobby Storey told the driver,
“This block is now in the hands of the IRA.
All screws who obeyed our orders are safe.
One who didn't was shot in the head.
We will shoot anyone who endangers our planned escape, including you.”
Then Storey motioned at Gerry Kelly, the man who had shot Adams in the head.
“that man will remain with you throughout the escape.
He is doing 30 years and he'll shoot you without hesitation if he has to.
He has nothing to lose.”
The truck was loaded with 37 prisoners, and Kelly slid into the footwell of the front
seats, pointing his gun at the driver the whole time.
Kelly added to his threats, telling the driver that a grenade had been placed under his seat
and would explode if he attempted anything funny.
Given the circumstances, the driver was inclined to believe him.
They had their ride out, but they still had to make their way out of three separate gates.
To do so, they'd need to take over the control room of the main gate, known as the tally
lodge.
The 12 prisoners disguised as guards entered the control room and began to secure the officers
inside, while Kelly remained in the truck with a gun on the driver.
To make their escape successful, some inmates would have to remain in the control room to
watch over the guards, sacrificing their freedom for their compatriots.
All was going to plan, until a guard pressed a secret silent alarm.
A few moments later, the phone rang.
The prisoners grabbed the senior officer and with a gun to his head, told him to answer
the phone, warning that if he said anything wrong they'd kill him.
The prison's emergency control room was calling in response to the silent alarm, asking if
everything was alright.
The officer laughed it off, saying that one of the other guards had accidentally pressed
the alarm.
He was warned to tell his men to stop horsing around and reset the alarm.
The escape had been going perfectly, but numerous small delays had messed up the IRA's time
table.
The 12 prisoners dressed as guards who would stay behind to secure the other's escape were
in the control room, with the other 38 in the truck below.
Running late, the prisoners were forced to wait now as shift change occurred, and incoming
guards were promptly seized by the prisoners in the control tower.
However, being very quickly outnumbered, the guards eventually began to fight back.
The main gate was opened, but two officers wedged their cars into the gate, blocking
it.
The men in the truck rushed out and began fighting with the officers who had freed themselves.
A british army soldier in the watchtower above watched in confusion as the scene unfolded,
later saying that he didn't open fire because he couldn't tell who was who as many of the
escapees were dressed as guards.
In fact, he believed the guards were actually fighting amongst themselves.
With the plan in tatters, the IRA escapees rushed to the final gate and climbed over
it as the guards gave chase.
They opened fire on the guards as they ran, wounding one in the leg.
With a mad dash to freedom, 35 of the escapees managed to climb the final gate, with 3 getting
recaptured.
The IRA was supposed to be waiting with a vehicle convoy, but again due to bad timing
nobody awaited the prisoners, who were forced to run for it on foot or hijack any passing
cars.
Ultimately, the escape would leave only a single guard dead- officer James Ferris, who
suffered a heart attack after being stabbed.
20 officers would suffer injuries, with four being stabbed and two shot.
15 of the escapees were immediately recaptured by authorities on the very same day, with
the rest fleeing across the border to Ireland.
Now go watch How a prisoner simply walked out of prison, or click this other video instead.