Single-cell proposal - McDowell’s edict is unworkable

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.

Characteristically, the minister’s edict was an off-the-cuff response to the death of 21-year-old Gary Douch in a communal cell in Mountjoy Prison on Tuesday.

After requesting protection, Douch ended up in a cell with six other prisoners, including an extremely violent inmate who is now at the centre of investigations into this brutal killing. Though violence was no stranger to the other inmates in the cell, the assault was so fierce they were afraid to intervene.