Padraic Connolly (also given as Padraig Connolly or Padraic Connelly) is a fictional character, portrayed by Brian F. O'Byrne on the HBO drama Oz. He appeared in three episodes in season 4:[1] "Even the Score",[2] "Famous Last Words",[3] and "Orpheus Descending"."[4][5]
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Prisoner #01C972. Arrested February 28, 2001 - Illegal entry into the United States. Being held pending deportation.
The courts first ruled to grant Connolly asylum, but the INS appealed the decision. He was first sent to a federal prison but after death threats and nearly being killed by a Protestant sympathizer, he was transferred to Oswald.
Connolly arrives in Emerald City, and is immediately admired by O'Reily and Unit manager Tim McManus. In Em City, O'Reily offers friendship, which Connolly initially refuses as he is not concerned about a long term stay in Oz. As a member of the PIRA Connolly is immediately viewed as a threat by both the British government and several inmates. After he is involved in a fight with two such inmates, both O'Reily and Reverend Jeremiah Cloutier come to his defense.
Afterwards, Zelman tells him that his appeal to remain in the US has been denied and that he will be deported to England shortly. Fearing he would surely hang in Britain and needing protection, Connolly accepts O'Reily's offer in friendship and begins to help build a bomb that will destroy Em City and hopefully allow them to be freed. As the bomb is about to go off, O'Reily has a change in heart and warns everyone to leave Em City. McManus quickly evacuates it and has the S.O.R.T. team ready for action but the bomb is a dud and fails.
The S.O.R.T. team and COs then beat Connolly and drag him off to the hole. Shortly afterwards, a CO goes to the kitchen for a cigarette break. Unknown to him, the cooking gas taps were left on by Ryan O'Reily when he ran from the kitchen to stop Connolly from setting off the bomb. When he lights a match, the kitchen explodes and all of Em City is engulfed by flames. That is the last scene of the season. As nothing is said of Connolly in any subsequent episode the viewer is left to assume he was deported.
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Oz does tend to play fast and loose with the implementation of the death penalty – in the real world, US inmates stay on death row for up to 20 years through the appeals process. However, Connelly's claim that he would be hung in Britain is perhaps a step too far with artistic licence. No one has been executed in Britain since 1964. After hanging was abolished for murder in 1965, the few remaining capital crimes (treason, espionage, piracy, arson in royal dockyards, which were all removed by 1998) were mostly legal relics, and were certainly never applied to anyone, including the IRA or other terror groups (of either persuasion) in Northern Ireland.