Special unit to be established for most violent inmates

A special prison unit is being set up to house the country’s most violent prisoners.

It comes as official figures show a fivefold increase in assaults by inmates on staff at Dóchas Women’s Prison last year. The dramatic rise from five assaults in 2015 to 26 in 2016 is against the background of a slight rise in the number of prisoner-on-staff assaults, up from 91 to 98.

The issue will feature strongly at the annual conference of the Prison Officers’ Association, which begins in Galway today.