10 Most Insane Prison Breaks Of All Time
2. Breakout At Maze Prison
The mass breakout at Northern Ireland's HM Maze Prison was the biggest in British history when it took place in 1983, leaving one prison guard dead from a fatal heart attack and 20 others injured.
The escapees were a band of 38 IRA members convicted of offences including murder and causing explosions, and how they pulled it off can be summarised in one word: guns.
Firearms were smuggled into the prison and used to hold the guards hostage. HM Maze Prison was a mass of concrete and electronically operated steel, considered nigh on inescapable, but it's a sad fact of life that people often get their own way when pointing a gun at another person's head.
When a food supplies truck arrived, the escapees held the driver at gunpoint and forced him to ferry them out of the prison. Over the next few days, 19 of them were recaptured and locked up again.
Some fled to the US, but were later found and extradited, while others have been granted amnesties due to the political situation in Northern Ireland.