The murder of Gary Douch at Mountjoy Jail reflects a dysfunctional system where the rights of citizens take second place to the dictates of the public purse. The State failed spectacularly in its duty of care to this unfortunate man. But it continues to fail, on a daily basis, in its responsibility to many hundreds of other prisoners who are denied proper psychiatric, educational and remedial services.
The allocation of blame is already under way. The Prison Officers' Association accused Minister for Justice Michael McDowell of contributing to overcrowding at the jail by closing other units while he, in turn, appointed a senior official to identify "any system failure which may have occurred". This death cannot be dismissed with such glib facility. Our entire prison system is rotten to the core and needs root-and-branch reform. It is based on incarceration - in appalling conditions - rather than rehabilitation. A succession of reports has made this abundantly clear in recent years.
Douch, a petty criminal, sought protection from the Mountjoy authorities on the day he died. In response, he was placed with a number of other prisoners in a basement cell. During the night, he was brutally assaulted and died of his injuries. Prison officers only discovered his body in the morning. A Garda murder investigation is now under way, along with two other inquiries. Official expressions of regret are too little and too late.
This was a murder waiting to happen. Two years ago, Inspector of Prisons Dermot Kinlen described the system as a finishing school for criminality, chronically overcrowded, awash with drugs and lacking educational and psychiatric services. Last week, a Nigerian man who had murdered his wife was attacked by up to 10 prisoners in Mountjoy and stabbed three times. A man charged with murder was assaulted in Cork Prison last Sunday and hospitalised. And five inmates of St Patrick's Institution for young male offenders engaged in a rooftop protest.
It is extremely difficult to prevent such incidents. But the State - and its well-paid public servants - has an obligation to try harder. When citizens are sent to prison they, as much as the community from which they are excluded, are entitled to protection. That duty of care is not being exercised in an effective manner by the authorities, which appear to regard prisons as social dustbins into which troublesome and sometimes dangerous citizens can be tipped and forgotten. The approach is short-sighted in the extreme, guaranteeing future problems.
Many prisoners should not be in jail at all. Half of them have a history of homelessness and are drug-abusers or are mentally ill. The incidence of severe mental illness within prisons is 40 times higher than within the general community. Training and educational programmes are not generally available for young offenders. And little effort is being made to break the vicious cycle of recidivism. The prison system is an insult to civilised people and undermines human rights. It must be reformed.