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| Location | Portlaoise, County Laois |
|---|---|
| Status | Operational |
| Security class | Maximum Security |
| Capacity | 399 |
| Population | 119 (as of 2009) |
| Opened | 1830 |
| Managed by | Irish Prison Service |
| Governor | Ultan Moran |
Portlaoise Prison (Irish: Príosún Phort Laoise) is a maximum security prison in Portlaoise, County Laois, Ireland. Until 1929 it was called the Maryborough Gaol.[1] 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 dissident republican prisoners are housed in "E Block". Anyone charged under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act must be sent to the prison because of its unique security measures.[2]
Soldiers from the Irish Army patrolled Portlaoise Prison on a permanent basis between 1973 and 2024.[3]
- ^ "Maryborough". Offaly Archives. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
- ^ €240,700 to keep a prisoner in Portlaoise Archived 29 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Gallagher, Conor (3 October 2024). "Army pulls out of Portlaoise Prison after 51 years in wake of IRA clear-out". The Irish Times. Retrieved 3 October 2024.