High Court told prisoner's security detention unjust

A prisoner has been held at Portlaoise Prison under an allegedly oppressive security regime for disruptive and violent prisoners…

A prisoner has been held at Portlaoise Prison under an allegedly oppressive security regime for disruptive and violent prisoners for the past three years, the High Court has been told.

Mr Martin Giblin SC, for Warren Dumbrell, told Mr Justice Murphy yesterday his client had been kept in either total or partial solitary confinement since he joined five other prisoners in holding prison officers hostage in Mountjoy Prison in January 1997.

He said Dumbrell had been transferred to Portlaoise after the hostage incident and kept in solitary confinement, with prison officers in riot gear outside his cell, for nine months. Since then, he had been kept in partial solitary confinement.

Mr Giblin was granted a High Court inquiry under Article 40 of the Constitution into the lawfulness of Dumbrell's detention.

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He told the court the "barrier handling" regime under which Dumbrell and three other prisoners were still being held in Portlaoise had been criticised by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment.

Ms Catherine Staines, solicitor, said that almost four years after the hostage-taking incident Dumbrell was still locked up from 6.45 p.m. each day until 8.30 a.m. Prison officers in riot gear remained near his cell. Each time he was permitted to leave his landing to see a doctor, make a phone call or receive a visit he was handcuffed and followed by officers in riot gear.

When Dumbrell was taken to the exercise yard he had to enter through a gate into a large steel cage, which was then locked. He then placed his hands through bars to have his handcuffs removed. After this, a door was slid open, allowing him access to the yard.