The High Court has refused a prisoner’s challenge to the removal of a makeshift screen around the toilet and shower in his shared cell at Midlands Prison.
In a judgment delivered on 21 December 2018, Ms Justice O’Regan found that the prison governor had a rational basis for removing the screen and deciding that no further screening should be provided. She said the governor’s decision was not arbitrary, capricious or unjust. The relief sought was refused.
The prisoner had sought declarations concerning the removal of a duvet cover and string that he and his cellmate had used as a curtain. His case was that having to use the toilet and shower without a screen caused embarrassment and distress and infringed his rights to privacy and dignity. He also argued that the conditions amounted to inhuman or degrading treatment and breached Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Irish Prison Service and the prison governor accepted that the prisoner had a right to privacy, but argued that it was limited by the need to protect prisoners and maintain prison security. In an affidavit, an assistant governor said a screened-off area could prevent officers from seeing a prisoner who had collapsed or was being assaulted during routine inspections. He also said the duvet cover and string could be torn up and used as a ligature. The respondents said prison safety policies applied to all similar cells on the wing.
The judge found that the Article 3 claim did not meet the minimum level of severity required in the circumstances. On privacy, she said the respondent bore the burden of showing that the interference was permissible and concluded that it had discharged that burden. The court also noted that the applicant had briefly been offered a single cell in April 2018, but the respondents did not pursue their argument that the case had become moot.
The judgment did not order the installation of a screen or curtain. It refused the relief sought, while accepting the respondent’s stated security rationale in the circumstances before the court.