The Maze Prison is situated about 10 miles from Belfast close to the town of Lisburn. The total site occupies 270 acres.

The implementation of the Good Friday agreement and the consequent release of prisoners sentenced for paramilitary offences resulted in the closure of the prison at the end of September 2000. At 17:44pm on 29 September 2000 the remaining 4 prisoners at Maze were transferred to other establishments in Northern Ireland.

Part of the Prison continues to be held as contingency accommodation. With only two other adult male prisons in Northern Ireland, provision has to made for any possible loss of accommodation through fire, riot or health and safety reasons.

On 2 May 2002 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown announced that the Maze Prison site and Belfast Prison are to be transferred to the Northern Ireland Executive.

The Maze was a unique prison establishment in that, with the exception of a small group of ordinary prisoners employed as kitchen workers, its population consisted entirely of prisoners who had been convicted of terrorist offences and who had claimed affiliation to paramilitary organisations. Remand prisoners who were affiliated to paramilitary groups had been held at the Maze since July 1994.

Five separate paramilitary groups were located in Maze, each having their own H blocks or wing within an H block. The Maze comprised 8 H blocks each with a capacity of 104. Within the blocks, inmates largely managed their own lives, running their own regimes, cleaning rosters and dining arrangements. Access to all areas of their wings including showers, toilets, recreation equipment and laundry etc. was available to inmates 24 hours per day.

The implementation of the Good Friday agreement and the consequent release of prisoners sentenced for paramilitary offences resulted in the closure of the prison at the end of September 2000. In total 445 prisoners have been released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. Of this number 350 were released from the Maze - 205 republican and 145 loyalists.

Prior to the start of the accelerated release programme in September 1998, the Maze employed around 1100 staff and accommodated 460 terrorist prisoners in 8 H blocks.

Maze Prison - History
In the late 1960's the prison population in Northern Ireland was below 700. Internment without trial was introduced on 9 August 1971. The first institution at what is now the site of the Maze prison, formerly an RAF airfield, was the Long Kesh Detention Centre built in 1971. It housed the first internees who were held, not in traditional cellular conditions, but in existing Nissen huts, separated into compounds which segregated different paramilitary groups.

Special category status
Following the introduction of Direct Rule in March 1972, the Long Kesh Internment Centre began to receive people convicted by the courts of 'politically motivated' offences, at which time the institution was formally renamed HMP Maze.
From June 1972 convicted prisoners who claimed political motivation where granted what became known as 'special category status.' To be considered for special category status inmates had to have been convicted to serve more than nine months: in addition they had to be 'claimed' by one of the paramilitary compound leaders.
In October 1974, continued confrontation between prisoners and the Maze authorities culminated in the Provisional IRA, and the Official IRA, setting fire to every compound in the prison except the two which held Loyalist prisoners.

The Gardiner Report
In January 1975 the Government published the Gardiner Report whose remit was:
"To consider what provisions and powers, consistent to the maximum extent practicable in the circumstances with the preservation of civil liberties and human rights, are required to deal with terrorism and subversion in Northern Ireland, including provisions for the administration of justice, and to examine the working of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973; and to make recommendations."
Lord Gardiner's recommendations, in relation to both the shortcomings of compound conditions and the folly of granting special category status, were accepted by the Government. Recommendation 34 of his report stated "the Government should find suitable sites on which to begin construction of both the temporary cellular prison for 700 and the permanent prison for 400 to 500". The then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mr Merlyn Rees, advised the House of Commons that H Blocks were to be built on the Maze site as an interim measure, while a new prison at Maghaberry was being built.
The H blocks started to accommodate prisoners as soon as they were finished early in 1976 although Maze cellular was not officially opened until August 1978.

The end of special category status
The Government ruled that, in future, special category status would not be granted to any prisoner convicted of a terrorist crime committed after 1 March 1976.

The blanket protest
The blanket protest began on 15 September 1976 when sentenced Republican prisoners, who had been received at HMP Maze as ordinary criminals, refused to work or wear prison clothing. Prisoners began to use blankets instead of clothing and the protest quickly became known as being 'on the blanket'. The prison authorities reacted to the protest by removing the privileges of those 'on the blanket', action which led to an escalation of the protest.

The dirty protest
From March 1978 Republican prisoners responded by smearing their cells with their own excreta as a reaction to Government intransigence. This period was marked by paramilitary activity against prison staff in particular and, between November 1978 and December 1979, 12 Prison Officers and a member of the Senior Management Team at the Maze, were murdered by terrorists.

The hunger strikes
In October 1980 seven Republican prisoners started to refuse food, having not accepted the Government's offer of prison issue civilian clothing as a solution to the impasse. That hunger strike ended on 18 December 1980 but, a second, major and sustained, hunger strike in 1981 culminated in the deaths of 10 Republican prisoners. The five demands of the hunger strikers were:

the right to wear civilian clothes;

the right to choose not to do prison work;

free association with other inmates;

remission at 50% on all sentences;

normal privileges - parcels and visits, educational and recreational facilities.
Loyalist prisoners
In 1982 Loyalist prisoners demanded segregation from Republican prisoners. When this was denied they embarked upon their own protest by wrecking cells and organising their own dirty protest. The protesting Loyalist prisoners were removed from their wings and placed in separate accommodation, albeit under punishment, and in this way a division of the prisoner factions was achieved.

Mass escape of republican prisoners
In September 1983, 38 Republican prisoners successfully escaped from the Maze, although 19 were quickly recaptured. One prison officer died of injuries sustained during the escape. To date 4 remain at large.

Continuing staff intimidation by prisoners
In 1984 another member of the Senior Management Team at the Maze was murdered at home by the Provisional IRA. In the same year the Governor was so concerned about whether security procedures were being properly followed by staff in the wings that he set up a monitoring group to observe what was happening. It reported the failure to achieve daytime lock-ups, a lack of control over prisoner movement within blocks, 'de facto' control by prisoners over visits arrangements and meals etc. Staff in the wings were being intimidated and Governor's Orders were not complied with.
The Minister responsible for prisons at the time recognised the dilemma facing management when he said, in February 1988, that Governor's Orders should be "revised to reflect realities, but in no circumstances in a way that the Governor would find unacceptable from the security aspect".

The campaign to end daytime lock-ups and restore inter-wing association
In mid-1988 the Provisional IRA began a campaign to end daytime lock-ups and restore inter-wing association. This campaign included orchestrated pressure on staff in which prisoners exploited the murder of a Prison Officer, in the community, to add to the fears and anxieties of staff working on the wings. The options of lock down of the whole prisoner population, or withdrawing staff from the wings, were considered but rejected.
In 1993 a working party, chaired by the Deputy Director of Operations in the Northern Ireland Prison Service, to review security and control at the Maze, made a number of recommendations designed to enhance the physical security of the blocks, and to re-enforce the wing-based nature of the regime. Two of these recommendations were of particular interest. One was that staff should only enter the wings to carry out specific tasks, such as locking, unlocking and conducting security checks or head counts. This was rejected but the other recommendation, that abutting wings should be amalgamated, received ministerial endorsement.
In 1993 two Prison Officers were stripped naked and covered with paint in a wing, and shots were fired into the homes of other prison staff. Later that year there were riots by Loyalist prisoners at the Maze, and a Prison Officer was shot dead in his home in retaliation for the subsequent lock-up.

The achievement of 24 hour unlock by prisoners
In 1994 Prison Service management foresaw that television coverage of the football World Cup, with many matches beginning at 2100 hours, would lead to difficulties in securing lock-ups at night. At the Maze the prisoners exploited the situation to bring about a 'de facto' 24 hour unlock, which they made clear they regarded as a permanent feature of the regime. Recognising the reality that this had occurred, and the serious risks involved in seeking to enforce lock-ups at night, the Prison Service management, and the Minister responsible for prisons, decided to allow it to continue, subject to conditions that were negotiated with the prisoners.
A parallel justification for the 24 hour unlock was that it gave prisoners access to sanitation in accordance with the recommendation of Sir Stephen Tumim, a former Chief Inspector of Prisons.

Further disturbances
There were further major disturbances at the Maze in March 1995, when Loyalist prisoners rioted following a search by prison officers. The riot caused extensive damage to one H Block, and about 200 officers suffered from smoke inhalation or other injury, resulting in lengthy periods of sick absence.

The attempted escape by republican prisoners
In March 1997 Republican prisoners dug a tunnel from a cell on a segregated wing and disposed of the debris in two adjoining cells. Ultimately the escape attempt was a failure, because the tunnel was discovered by a dog handler, following an external collapse.

UDA disturbances
In 1997 UDA prisoners caused considerable damage to their blocks at the Maze, in protest against the blanket security measures that were introduced throughout the prison, in the aftermath of the Republican escape attempt. In June 1997 the homes of three prison officers were firebombed by Loyalists.

LVF disturbances
In August 1997 the LVF rioted, setting their accommodation on fire in a protest about not being given segregated visits arrangements. These arrangements were later conceded.

The escape of Liam Averill
On 10 December 1997 prisoner Liam Averill, who had served two years of a life sentence, escaped under cover of the Provisional IRA children's party.

The killing of prisoner Billy Wright
On 27 December 1997 Prisoner Billy Wright, the leader of the LVF faction at the Maze, was shot and killed in the forecourt of an H Block while being transported to the visits complex. Three members of the Irish National Liberation Army faction surrendered themselves and their weapons and were subsequently convicted of the murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. They were later released under the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act resulting from the Good Friday Agreement.

The death of prisoner David Keys
On March 1998 prisoner Keys, who was remanded for police enquiries into a serious crime, was murdered by prisoners in the LVF H Block.