Minister orders independent inquiry into prison killing

Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has established an independent inquiry into the murder yesterday of an inmate in a protection cell in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, by another prisoner who had recently spent a period in the Central Mental Hospital.

The decision by Mr McDowell to establish an inquiry into the murder that is independent of the prison service is unprecedented.

The dead man, Gary Douch, Tallaght, Dublin, was badly beaten and strangled in a sustained attack. His alleged killer is a 23-year-old man from Coolock. His excrement was found smeared on the dead man.

He was arrested at the prison yesterday and was being questioned by gardaí last night. He is awaiting trial for robbery and has previously escaped custody.

The suspect, who was regarded as violent, had been transferred from Cloverhill Prison to Mountjoy on Sunday after spending time in the past 10 days at the Central Mental Hospital. He was assigned to a holding cell in the basement of the prison until a suitable bed became available.

Prison sources told The Irish Times overcrowding in Mountjoy has reached record levels in recent weeks. On Monday there were 527 inmates being held in a prison with an operational bed capacity of 470.

The man who died was sleeping in the same holding cell as his alleged killer.

Mr Douch approached prison staff on Monday evening and expressed concerns for his safety. It was decided he should be transferred from C1 wing to the holding cell for his own safety. There were six other prisoners in the cell sleeping on mattresses on the floor.

Mr Douch (21) was serving three years for assault and possession of drugs. He was a drug addict. Some time during the night he was set upon by the suspect. None of the other inmates raised the alarm.

Prison officers realised what had happened when they unlocked the cell door at 6.30am. Mr Douch was found lying among the mattresses and taken to the Mater hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The Prison Officers Association said it had written to Mr McDowell in recent weeks to raise the overcrowding issue.

The director general of the prison service, Brian Purcell, extended his sympathy to the dead man's family. "We are going to have to have a look at the systems we have in place," he said.

Mr McDowell said the establishment of the inquiry, headed by Michael Mellett, "should help identify any system failure which may have occurred". Mr Mellett is currently working with the Independent Monitoring Commission.

An internal inquiry in Mountjoy is also under way and gardaí are conducting a murder investigation.