The killing of Gary Douch by a fellow inmate in a crowded cell is a new low in a dysfunctional prison system, writes Conor Lally
Gary Douch's death was a benchmark in depravity. There is no other way to describe it. In a communal cell in the basement of Mountjoy Prison just after 6.30am last Tuesday, prison staff found him beaten and strangled to death. His remains had been smeared with his killer's excrement.
When the cell door was opened it appears that none of the other inmates in the cell alerted prison staff to what had unfolded or pointed out the 21-year-old's body.
Prison staff realised they were one prisoner short and went to get Douch out of bed. While they were making their horrific discovery, Douch's killer had gone to eat breakfast with the five other cellmates. None of the five had raised the alarm in the early hours of Tuesday morning as the attack was under way.
It was a gruesome end to a troubled life.
The family's home had been in Coolock, north Dublin, when Douch was a boy. But their house was petrol-bombed and his mother moved to Alderwood Green in Tallaght, south-west Dublin. Her son, known to his friends as "Niggah", refused to go with her. It was agreed he would stay in the Coolock area, in the care of family friends.
Aged 13 he ended up in Trinity House for young offenders in north Co Dublin. He remained there for nearly four years. On release he developed a drug habit.
He had been in prison since November 2004, jailed for three years following convictions for assault causing harm, possession of drugs and a number of road traffic offences. He was convicted for breaching a barring order granted to his family in respect of their home in Tallaght. He had gone to the house and tried to set it on fire. At the time he was convicted his mother, Margaret Rafter, was quoted by a tabloid newspaper as saying she believed her son needed help and that jail was the best place for him.
"He's a bleeding anarchist and I don't want to see him when he gets out, ever," she was reported as saying.
The beginning of the end of Douch's short, drug-addicted life began sometime on Monday evening. He approached staff on C1 wing of Mountjoy and told them he feared for his safety. He declined to disclose who or what he feared.
A decision was taken to transfer him to a so-called protection cell in the basement of the prison. (Mountjoy is a committal prison, which means all inmates sentenced in the courts in Dublin must be processed through it before being transferred to other jails. The communal cell where Douch was killed was one of a number of large cells in the basement. These should have been used only to hold inmates for periods during the day before their transfer to the prison proper or other jails. They were never intended to house inmates overnight but were used for that purpose because of overcrowding.)
When he was being locked into the cell with the other inmates on Monday night, Douch was asked by prison staff whether he foresaw any problems arising between him and the others. He indicated he was satisfied with the arrangements.
Some time in the early hours of Tuesday he was fatally attacked.
MOST OF THOSE in the so-called protection cell were there for the same reason as Douch. But this was not the case for his killer, who was also from Coolock and was known to Douch.
This man, a 23-year-old, was being held in Cloverhill Prison in recent times. He was waiting to be tried on charges relating to the robbery of a bookies shop in north Dublin. However, he was regarded as a troublesome inmate with a propensity for violence and, like his victim, had spent some of his childhood in Trinity House. One of his parents is from the Traveller community and he is said to react violently whenever this is raised.
Three weeks ago he was sent from Cloverhill for an assessment at the Central Mental Hospital. With the assessment complete, he was sent back to Cloverhill. He was transferred to Mountjoy last Sunday. (He has since been sent back to the Central Mental Hospital.)
The prison was overcrowded to near record levels on Sunday - 527 inmates at a time it should have had a maximum of 470 - and no bed could be found for him. It was decided to house him in the holding cell.
So because of the overcrowding, this violent and psychiatrically disturbed man ended up sharing a cell with some of the most vulnerable inmates in the prison.
LAST THURSDAY IT was announced that, from now on, all inmates requesting protection across the prison system would be housed in a single occupancy cell for at least 24 hours. After that period a decision would be made where to accommodate them. The policy change was recommended by Michael Mellett, a former senior civil servant appointed to carry out an independent inquiry into the killing.
Garda sources have told The Irish Times that the five other cellmates have indicated in interviews that they were too frightened of the killer to intervene. The killer tried to get the others to join the attack, and rape and dismember the man's lifeless remains. He said he would kill any of the group who informed staff what had happened.
Eugene Dennehy, deputy general secretary of the Prison Officers' Association (POA), confirmed that officers have to check on every holding cell every 15 minutes. He said there is swipe-card technology at all the cells. The records for the early hours of Tuesday show all the checks were made.
He said the other inmates in the cell have told prison staff that the assault on Douch lasted "a couple of minutes".
Dennehy says the attack was so short it could easily have happened between checks. Any officer who subsequently looked into the faintly lit cell would have found it impossible to determine that Douch was dead rather than sleeping.
"We would argue that if the prison had not been overcrowded that would have contributed greatly to the avoidance of this murder," Dennehy adds.
Admittedly, hindsight is the media's greatest asset. However, the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, senior officials at his Department and the management of the Irish Prison Service have all been warned repeatedly about some of the circumstances which led to Douch's murder.
The overcrowding within Mountjoy comes at a time when two prisons - Spike Island in Co Cork and the Curragh Place of Detention in Co Kildare - remain closed as part of a cost-cutting drive across the prison service.
Last month, the POA raised its concerns about the overcrowding at Mountjoy and the issue has been raised repeatedly by the prison's visiting committee. Meanwhile, the committee in Arbour Hill Prison last year specifically raised the issue of some inmates being sent to the Central Mental Hospital for short periods only to be returned to prison. It said it was "disturbing" that two inmates treated in this fashion had taken their own lives at the prison in 2004. A report last year by the Probation Service found that of the 25 per cent of the 3,200 prison population who were homeless on committal, one in three had been previously diagnosed with a mental illness.
Fr Charlie Hoey is chaplain at Mountjoy. He says the prison is beset with drug addiction, violence, bullying and fear. The violence is indisputable.
An African inmate, Goodwill Udechukwu, was stabbed three times at the jail last week. There have been two further stabbings in the last two days.
When Fr Hoey speaks of Mountjoy he tells of an overcrowded institution with few rehabilitative elements. He echoes recent criticisms by the Inspector of Prisons, Mr Justice Dermot Kinlen, that the prison system is "not working".
"Our numbers are increasing, crime is increasing, and the drug problem is increasing," adds Fr Hoey. "So we need to look at some alternatives [ to imprisonment]. There are a lot of voices shouting out there and suggesting different ways and unfortunately their voices are not being heard."