JAILED LIMERICK criminal Wayne Dundon has brought a High Court action over an allegedly unexplained and unjustified decision by the authorities at Cloverhill Prison to isolate him from the mainstream prison population.
Dundon (34), Linehan Avenue, Prospect, Limerick, claims his segregation amounts to a breach of his rights. He claims he is being denied access to education and training facilities and has had restrictions placed on his family’s visits to him.
Mr Justice Michael Peart has adjourned the application for leave to bring the proceedings, which was moved ex parte (one side only represented) to next Monday to allow lawyers for the Cloverhill Prison governor and the State an opportunity to respond.
Dundon is serving a six-year prison sentence after the Special Criminal Court found him guilty of charges including making a threat to kill and intimidating a witness in other proceedings. That sentence was imposed last April and he has been in Cloverhill Prison in Clondalkin since.
Yesterday, Pádraig Dwyer SC, for Dundon, said solicitors for his client wrote to the prison authorities requesting Dundon be removed from the section of the prison where he is held and be provided with education and training opportunities and open family visits.
A reply from the prison governor stated Dundon was being held in the particular section of Cloverhill due to concerns for his safety and that closed visits were the norm within the prison.
His client was not being kept in protective custody but was subject to conditions normally reserved for prisoners who have committed serious transgressions in prison, counsel said. Dundon was not subject to any such punishment and keeping him in such conditions was unjustified, counsel added.