The man was described as physically very well. However, there was a sudden and dramatic deterioration in his behaviour later last month, the High Court heard.

There was also a sharp rise in substances recovered in the state's detention centre for young offenders.

The prison watchdog has criticised the authorities in Mountjoy for repeated failures by staff to notice that a prisoner had died in his cell.

Paddy Hansard, 73, suffered serious head injuries and broken bones in his neck due to a horrific attack which took place at around 2.30am on August 17, at the Courtney Place flat complex in Ballybough, Dublin.

Thirty-seven percent of inmates in the Mountjoy Prison complex are on methadone, which is normally used to treat an addiction to heroin.

The death of a newborn baby at one of the country’s busiest maternity hospitals is being investigated by gardaí.

The tragic death of a newborn baby at one of the country's busiest maternity hospitals is being investigated by gardaí.

Ana Kriegel's teen killers “are not evil”, the former governor of Mountjoy prison said as he warned that the case was a "wake-up call" to Government to investigate the growing trend of violent juvenile crime.

However, he said he is not happy with how society responded to the crime.

“I was in prison for 20 years, for selling heroin and robbing a bank. I’ve been in all the prisons in this country. I’ve seen a few father and sons in there, the most in Mountjoy.

The bulk of closed prisons are operating at unsafe levels, raising the risk of violence, according to penal reformers.

The Big Fellow broke six men out of Strangeways prison 100 years ago. The priority was Sinn Féin’s Austin Stack, but the two men would fall out bitterly, says Ryle Dwyer.

The number of inmates on a methadone treatment programme across the prison system last year was the highest since 2012.

Was Ethel Gavin’s transfer actually an attempt to cover up a dangerous mistake in the prison service? asks Michael Clifford

The amount of drugs, weapons and other contraband detected in prisons continued to rise last year despite a range of enhanced measures implemented by authorities to stop smuggling.

A great-grandfather who was left fighting for his life a month ago following an unprovoked attack outside his home has been left with a permanent significant brain injury.

Doctors are attempting to wean him off a respirator after he suffered serious head injuries and broken bones in his neck.

Great grand-father, Paddy Hansard, suffered serious head and spinal injuries in the alleged attack.

“Retribution is not the way to deal with the savage attack on a great grandfather,” which has left him battling for his life, members of the public were told at a candle light vigil held for him in Dublin north inner city.

Fair City actor Tommy O’Neill drew on his own time in prison for a video installation currently on display on Spike Island, writes Ellie O’Byrne

Details released under the Freedom of Information Act show there were 1,138 drug seizures in ten Irish prisons last year.

Gardaí are seeking the public's help in tracing the whereabouts of Nadine Walsh, 15 years, who is missing from the Dublin 1 area since Wednesday.

A new recording system has revealed that far greater numbers of prison officers are injured by inmates than was previously reflected in official statistics.

Gardaí are seeking the public's help in tracing the whereabouts of Nadine Walsh, 15, who is missing from the Mountjoy area of Dublin since Monday June 24, 2019.

There was a far greater turnout by voters registered to vote at Mountjoy prison in the recent European and local elections than in some of the surrounding areas outside the prison in Dublin.

An inmate at Cork Prison was caught twice in three weeks with a mobile phone in his cell.

Update: Nadine Walsh has been found safe and well.

The gangland killer of Limerick rugby player, Shane Geoghegan, has failed in his attempt to get Europe’s top human rights court to overturn his conviction for murder.

New figures from the Irish Prison Service (IPS) have revealed the most dangerous prison in the country for prisoners - and prison staff.

Two prison units are being opened and 100 cells are being 'doubled up' in a bid to deal with a resurgence in overcrowding in prisons.

Overcrowding in prisons is leading to intimidation and violence, according to the Prison Officers Association.

There has been a surge in the number of prisoners put on protection for their own safety, with the sharpest rises in Mountjoy Prison and Cloverhill Remand Prison.

"I started hanging around with a couple of friends from the blocks and we were very innocent. They were smoking hash and I just thought 'well, what about it?' - it was just a bit of craic."

A Dublin man who was arrested with a loaded gun in Dublin’s north inner city was “an important and trusted member” of an organised crime gang, the non-jury Special Criminal Court has heard.

Alannah Corrigan was last seen on Wednesday morning.

Prison officers made more than 1,100 drug seizures in Irish prisons last year as part of ongoing efforts to clamp down on contraband.

Any finding by the Supreme Court that slopping out amounts to inhuman and degrading treatment would have “huge” consequences for the State and the Mountjoy prison regime, the State has said.

Athanasios Dritselis has been found safe and well.

Your morning's headlines.

Two prison officers were slashed with a makeshift blade yesterday, one across his forehead, in an attack carried out by an inmate with a “track record” of assaulting jail staff.

More than two-thirds of investigations into the deaths of vulnerable prisoners since 2012 have raised concerns about “misleading” or inaccurate record-keeping by prison staff, and the care afforded to inmates who have suicidal ideation and mental health problems.

The prisons inspections watchdog has warned that the availability of illicit drugs in Mountjoy Prison “continues to be a matter of serious concern” following the apparent accidental overdose of an inmate.

One of the country’s busiest prisons is so overcrowded, inmates sleep on mattresses on the floor.

Garda operations against feuding gangs and roaming burglary groups are believed to be driving a surge in the number of people being held on remand in prison.