Not just and reasonable to impose duty of care on Governor for breaches of Irish Prison Service Prisoner Policy Document

Prison law – appeal from High Court decision granting prisoner sum of €5,000 in damages and granting a declaration that the Governor had breached the terms of the Irish Prison Service Prisoner Complaints Policy Document in his treatment of the prisoner’s written complaints – costs of legal proceedings – awarded 30% of costs of action, full costs of submissions and issue paper – 12 year sentence for burglary and assault of 97 year old woman– chronic injuries arising from car accident – mental health difficulties - feared for his safety in prison – protection due to the nature of his offence – had been permitted to exercise during lunchtime – regime changed – self harmed – changed again – overlooked and liquid thrown at him – change in the way meals were served - designated prisoners delivered his meals to him – feared that his meals would be contaminated – raise issues with the Governor – avail of complaints procedure – refused food – no response to complaints in time – disclaimer letter – did not wish to be resuscitated – whether he had capacity to make this decision – High Court determined that he did have capacity – after 50 days of hunger strike persuaded upon to eat – prisoner issued proceedings alleging that his treatment breached the constitution – High Court judgment – breach of prison rules not actionable - issues on appeal – argued that the trial judge erred in finding that the manner in which the prisoner’s complaints had been dealt with amounted in law to negligence and breach of duty – argued that the court was wrong to award damages in circumstances where no underlying breach of the prisoner’s rights was found - Court erred in failing to properly identify the basis upon which damages were awarded - whether it was appropriate to grant declaratory relief – prisoner failed to establish any breaches of his constitutional rights – personal injuries – assessment of damages – proof of damage – nature of the damages awarded - a duty of care - Policy Document is aspirational in nature – breach does not give rise to damages - not just and reasonable that a duty of care should be imposed in this case – Court found that to impose such a duty of care here would potentially represent a significant disincentive to prison authorities against the voluntary adoption of policies, procedures and practices designed to improve and enhance the situation of prisoners in their care - the imposition of such a duty would thus not be in the interests of prisoners as a whole and indeed the wider public - principles to be applied in determining whether to grant a declaratory order not addressed – as a matter of discretion court declined to make declaratory order – appeal granted – PIAB authorisation – costs – grounds for departing from the ordinary rule - justice of the case requires that there should be no order as to costs in respect of the appeal – Governor entitled to the costs of the High Court.