Another death in Garda custody

national | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Wednesday April 21, 2010 12:43 by dD

It's being reported by the he Garda Ombudsman that a man has been found dead in a garda cell in Dublin.

The man was arrested for a public order offence on Tuesday evening and held at Tallaght Garda Station where he was found dead at 9.30 last night.

protesters at a march to Store Street Garda Station

There have been a number of deaths in Garda custody over the last few years. There is no system of independent inspection of garda cells and checking on those in custody, such as is normal in the North. In this jurisdiction, prisoners in garda cells are usually cut off from anyone outside for long periods, with only cursory checks on their welfare.

There is a wealth of anecdotal evidence of people being assaulted by gardaí while in custody.

Five years ago, a young man from Dublin's North Inner City died in hospital after a short period of detention in Store Street Station. The Garda Ombudsman wrote a report on the case despite the case being outside its remit (the incident happened before it was set up). The report, heavily reliant on anonymous interviews with gardaí, was widely seen as a whitewash.

There is no structure in place for open inquiries into deaths in custody whereby gardaí and other witnesses could be cross examined.