The brother of murdered prisoner Gary Douch has been jailed for seven years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for possession of explosives.

In part one of a three-day investigation Cormac O’Keeffe unveils new figures which reveal a worrying and growing crisis behind Ireland’s prison walls

THERE is an impression that our prisons are full of drug dealers lounging on bunk beds as they flick through the channels on their huge plasma screen TVs, all the while coo-cooing their budgies.

GARDAÍ were last night facing allegations of a cover-up over the death of a 20-year-old in custody.

THE savage murder of Gary Douch, who was kicked, strangled and beaten to death in his Mountjoy prison cell, is to be probed by a commission of investigation.

Minister for Justice Michael McDowell today announced that a Commission of Investigation is to be established into the death of Gary Douch, who died following an attack on him while he was a prisoner in Mountjoy prison on August 1, 2006.

Sinn Féin spokesperson Aengus O Snodaigh TD today accused Minister for Justice Michael McDowell of "headline grabbing" and posing by adopting a tough stance on crime.

Pressure was mounting on Michael McDowell today following the suicide of an inmate at Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell last night moved to ease overcrowding at Mountjoy jail in the aftermath of a gruesome killing there earlier this month.

IN an ideal world, Justice Minister Michael McDowell’s proposal to house prisoners seeking protection in single cells for at least 24 hours would be fine — but in the context of the Irish prison system it is virtually unworkable.

Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has said the apparent circumstances surrounding the killing of an inmate at Mountjoy Prison earlier this week are a cause for real concern.

The 23-year-old man detained yesterday following the killing of an inmate at Mountjoy Prison has been returned to the jail this morning.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell yesterday ordered an independent inquiry into the death of Mountjoy prisoner Gary Douch.

THE necessity to establish an independent inquiry into the death of a prisoner in Mountjoy Prison is indicative of the intolerable overcrowding conditions that have been allowed to flourish in recent years by the policy of the present Government, spearheaded by Justice Minister Michael McDowell.

A prisoner was tonight being questioned about the killing of a drug dealer in Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison.

Minister of Justice Michael McDowell has established an independent inquiry into the death of a 21-year-old inmate at Mountjoy Prison overnight.

JUSTICE MINISTER Michael McDowell yesterday told the mother of a prisoner murdered in Mountjoy prison she had the right to sue the State if her son’s constitutional rights had been breached.