Gardai arrest man over killing in Mountjoy prison

Gardai have arrested a man in his 20s over the killing of a prisoner in Mountjoy prison last night.

A Garda spokesman said the man, who is also an inmate at the prison, was arrested earlier this afternoon and is being held at Mountjoy Garda Station.

Earlier today Minister for Justice Michael McDowell announced an independent inquiry into the death of Gary Douch (21) after he was attacked in a cell.

Douch, from Dublin, reportedly asked to be put under protective custody when he was brought to the prison last night.

He was later attacked in a cell in the basement under B Wing where he was reportedly placed with seven or eight other prisoners, who were also on protection.

Prison officers discovered the man, who is believed to be from north Dublin, lying in the cell at around 6.30am as they did their morning rounds. It is believed he had been stabbed a number of times.

He was transferred to the Mater Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 7.30am.

Gardaí and the Prison Service have opened separate investigations.

The scene of the attack has been preserved pending the arrival of the Garda crime scene investigators. A postmortem is expected to be carried out later today.

Minister for Justice Michael McDowell announced this morning he has appointed Michael Mellett, a former deputy secretary at the Department of Justice, to carry out an inquiry into the "tragic" death.

Michael McDowell

Mr Mellett works with the Independent Monitoring Commission and has served on the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The Minister said the inquiry would seek to establish what action was taken by management and staff to safeguard Mr Douch and to clarify whether he had expressed special concerns about his safety.

It would also establish what procedures were followed to allocate prisoners to the cell where Mr Douch died, and the level of monitoring in place at the prison last night. Mr Mellett will make any observations and recommendations as he sees fit.

Mr McDowell said he intends to publish Mr Mellet's report "in due course", except for any parts which could be deemed prejudicial to potential criminal proceedings.

Mr McDowell said: "The death of Mr Douch while in the care of the Prison Service is a tragedy for his family and is greatly regretted by me."

The Green Party called for an immediate review of cell security in Irish prisons following the attack. Justice spokesman Ciaran Cuffe called on Mr McDowell to implement the recommendations of the Inspector of Prisons, Justice Dermot Kinlen.

He said that to date, three reports have been published, all of which contained "damning criticisms" of the prison system. In May, Mr Justice Kinlen called the prison system a "total failure".

Fine Gael justice spokesman Jim O'Keeffe said the death was the "most serious outcome" of overcrowding in the prison system as a result of the closure of two prisons.

"The State has a duty to protect even the most serious offenders in its care," he said.

"Justice Minister Michael McDowell has been tinkering with the prison system since he was elected. He has closed two prisons without providing any significant new spaces, and his plans for new prisons will take years to be put into action.

"In the light of this latest tragic development it is incumbent on the Minister to specify what he intends to do, here and now, about the lack of space in our prisons."

Labour Party justice spokesman Brendan Howlin said the death of the man in Mountjoy last night raised "very serious questions" about how the State's prisons are run, and he said the Inspector of Prisons should investigate the incident.

"Regardless of what crimes prisoners are awaiting trial for or serving sentences for, they are entitled to the protection of the State from violent attack. Criminal gangs have been able to murder with virtually impunity on our streets in recent years; it now seems that they are determined to extend their violent writ into the prison system itself," he said.

Mr Howlin said the Mountjoy case is "of particular concern, given that the prisoner who was killed is reported to have asked to be placed under protective custody".

It is the second serious violent incident in Mountjoy prison in recent days. Last week, a Nigerian man who was jailed for life for killing his wife was attacked by a gang of up to ten men and stabbed three times.

Goodwill Udechukwu (32), who may lose an eye after the attack, was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his Jamaican-born wife, Natasha Gray, in Dublin in February 2003. He bludgeoned her to death with a hammer and dumped her body in their baby's cot.

Douch, from Dublin, reportedly asked to be put under protective custody when he was brought to the prison last night.