Jammed jails: wardens struggling to protect inmates

PRISON guards are struggling to protect up to 70 inmates who are under special protection amid chronic overcrowding conditions at Mountjoy Prison.

Tensions were high last night for the inmates as investigations continued into a fatal stabbing.

Investigators are examining if Declan Glennon, 24, who was stabbed in a row on the D landing of the jail, was stabbed after he himself attacked another prisoner with a makeshift knife or shiv. Two inquiries are under way, both by gardaí and the prison service.