The High Court has refused Mark Nash’s challenge to the Prison Service’s decision to keep him at the Midlands Prison rather than transfer him to Arbour Hill. The ruling concerns a decision made on 29 July 2015 after the service reconsidered his request; the court did not order a transfer and said a future application could be made if Nash’s co-operation with the prison regime improves and is maintained over time.
Nash, who is serving four life sentences for murder, had spent most of his time in custody at Arbour Hill. After two further murder convictions in April 2015, he was held first at Mountjoy and then transferred to the Midlands Prison on 6 May. He sought judicial review after the service refused his request to return to Arbour Hill.
The service’s July decision refused the transfer on public interest and security grounds, and on the basis that Nash’s needs and risk to life could be best managed at the Midlands Prison. The court said prison placement is primarily an executive responsibility and that it could intervene only if the discretion was exercised in a “capricious, arbitrary or unjust way”. It also said suicidal ideation alone was not a basis to compel a transfer where appropriate mental health services were available.
The court considered Nash’s claim that threats in the Midlands Prison contributed to his serious mental health difficulties and suicide risk. It found one threat incident had been corroborated: a prisoner on another phone in the same landing threatened Nash and his partner while they were separated by locked gates. By 19 May, Nash had been moved to a different part of the prison. The judgment said there was no evidence of further specific threats or physical harm, and the prisoners Nash identified as concerns were kept separate from him.
The judge was not satisfied that the threats caused Nash’s present mental state, which the judgment said appeared more attributable to an adjustment disorder following his recent convictions. It also accepted the prison authorities’ security assessment that the Midlands, classified as high security, was appropriate given his convictions for four murders. The court concluded that the 29 July review had adequately considered the relevant material and that the evidence did not show a real or imminent danger to Nash’s safety or life from other prisoners at the Midlands Prison.
The court refused the relief sought. It did not make a final ruling on whether shortcomings in the earlier decisions warranted intervention, because the request had since been fully reconsidered. It said Nash could apply again for transfer if his co-operation with the prison regime improved and was sustained.