asked the Minister if he will make a statement regarding the injuries to a person (details supplied) who is a remand prisoner in Mountjoy Prison.
Written Answers. - Injuries to Prisoner.
55.
While it is not normal practice to give information about the affairs of individual prisoners, in view of the inaccurate and misleading publicity that this incident has received, publicity for which the prisoner must himself have been in part responsible, I consider that I ought to say something about it.
On the 24 October 1979 the prisoner, who was on remand on serious charges, was put in a cell in the base which, inter alia, is used as a separation area for prisoners who are being disruptive. This followed a series of incidents involving misconduct on his part, the last of them being one in which he had been responsible for milk being spilled over an officer's uniform. Later that day he inflicted serious lacerations to both hands and both arms by pushing his hands through panes of glass in his cell window. He was immediately transferred to the Mater Hospital where he received treatment and was detained as an in-patient.
He attempted to escape from the Mater Hospital on the evening of 26 October 1979 but was recaptured in the hospital grounds and was returned to Mountjoy Prison. There is evidence that he was in collusion with persons outside the prison in planning his escape.
On his return to Mountjoy Prison he was placed in a safe or padded cell in the hospital wing. He was hysterical and aggressive and the fear was that he would harm himself further. On the morning of 27 October he was examined by the doctor. The prisoner was still very aggressive and the doctor directed that he be removed to a safe or padded cell in the base where he remained until 30 October. He has since settled down and apologised for his conduct.
He was sentenced to seven years penal servitude on 1 November.