State (Richardson) v Governor of Mountjoy Prison

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1980
• Date: 01 January 1980
• Court: High Court

(H.C.)

State (Richardson)

and

Governor of Mountjoy Prison

Condition of confinement - Subsisting rights of convicted prisoner - Complaint by prisoner that conditions of confinement conflict with health and privacy rights - Whether motive for complaint relevant - Whether State in breach of duties under Constitution and Prison Rules - Appropriate remedy - Constitution of Ireland, 1937, Article 40.3 - Rules for the Government of Prisons, 1947 (S.R. O. No.320), Rules 34, 46, 108, 172. Habeas corpus -Inquiry under Article 40.4 - Whether habeas corpus or Article 40.4 inquiry appropriate form of relief - Subsisting rights of convicted prisoner - Right of access to courts - Constitution of Ireland, 1937, Articles 40.3, 40.4.

The prosecutrix was a convicted prisoner who was detained in Mountjoy Prison. She applied for an inquiry by the High Court under Article 40.4 of the Constitution into the conditions relating to toilet facilities in the women's section of the prison on the grounds that they failed to have proper regard to her right to health, privacy and human dignity. Evidence was given that each morning the women, whose...