Drug dealer John Gilligan was denied fair procedure and was not given advance warning of punishment he received after an alleged incident in Portlaoise prison last month, the High Court has heard.
Last week the court heard Mr Gilligan threatened to kill two prison officers after assaulting one of the two in a row over access to the prison shop on March 25th.
Gilligan's legal team told Mr Justice McKechnie today their client's detention in the "bunker" area of the prison for 60 days was against prison rules.
He added they were not challenging three other elements of the sanctions against Gilligan - three day's closed confinement, 14 days loss of remission and 60 days loss of priveleges.
Mr Justice McKechnie said the prison authorities had given Gilligan advance warning when they said: "You are on report in respect of threatening and assaulting an officer".
The State's legal team agreed, saying Gilligan was warned three times as to what was happening but ignored the Governor and Deputy Governor of the prison.
It was contended that Gilligan had no right to seek a solicitor as it was not a criminal case.
Earlier today the State applied to have Gilligan appear in the witness box in the case. Mr Justic McKechnie said he was not in a position to direct Gilligan to appear for the purpose of cross-examination at this time.
A judgement will be given at 11 a.m. on Thursday.
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/6860fa1d-5ea9-4d55-b49a-fd09d6ad514d.png)