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Sat 09 Sep 2009Punitive responses continue the cycle of violence
PADDY BARRY, the 82-year-old Waterford pensioner who died after a break-in at his home, looks like an archetypal gentle granddad. It is not surprising that his death has led to calls for mandatory sentencing, or laws allowing people to defend themselves vigorously against intruders. But is that the way to go?
Will anyone who ends up in Mountjoy learn anything about respect for human beings? Yet again, there has been a scathing report on conditions in the prison. Prisoners are still eating their meals in cells with slop buckets in them. Drug abuse is still rampant. The place is dirty, dangerous and overcrowded. Judge Michael Reilly took care not to point the finger at staff, who themselves are working in impossible and unsafe conditions.
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