The Defence Forces were deployed to the prison at the height of the Troubles in the 1970s in order to prevent IRA prisoners from escaping.

In 2022, the Commission on Defence Forces identified the deployment as one of a number of “taskings which no longer seem justified in the current security situation”.

The role of the Defence Forces in providing security, as well as providing prisoner escorts to and from the courts and hospitals, was taking up 74,000 workdays per annum.

The government agreed in late July to withdraw the Defence Forces from the prison.

According to reports, the last soldiers left the prison on Monday this week.