Gary Douch death report makes for depressing reading

TO the damning prison reports straining the shelves at Prison Service HQ, comes another four-volume dossier. Totalling almost 800 pages, the reports of the Commission of Investigation into the death of Gary Douch make for grim reading.

The story painted by Gráinne McMorrow SC is as depressing as it is exhaustive.

Much has improved in the State’s prisons and forensic mental health services since 2006, which the barrister acknowledges, but it is yet to be seen whether enough has changed to prevent such a scandal happening again.