Three prisoners won awards yesterday for trauma suffered when they found themselves locked up as smoke from a fire in a padded room seeped into their cells. One was awarded £500, while two others settled for undisclosed sums just shortly before the case concluded at Dublin District Court.
The claims were brought against Mountjoy Prison and the State by William Deans, Gerard Roe and Ray Storey, who are still serving sentences. Deans and Roe settled while Storey was awarded £500 plus costs.
The fire broke out just after 10 p.m. on December 18th, 1995, in a special padded cell for unruly prisoners. A prisoner had earlier been moved to it after he had started a fire in another cell.