A double killer is carrying out a ‘dirty protest’ over his treatment at Mountjoy Prison.
Stephen Penrose (38) has been staging the protest in his cell over the past week.
Penrose is objecting to his treatment at Mountjoy where he is locked up 23 hours a day in a special protection unit.
However the prison staff say he was put there for his own safety after threats from other inmates and then trying to attack and threaten a number of prison officers.
Penrose has a track record of extreme violence both inside and outside jail and is regarded as one of the most dangerous prisoners in the country.
He was convicted of the murder of his criminal friend Philip Finnegan (24) in Co Kildare a few months ago and got life imprisonment.
He stabbed him, cut up and tried to burn the body and then buried him in a shallow grave in the woods in August 2016.
Normally when an inmate gets life they are moved out of Mountjoy to Wheatfield, the Midlands or Portlaoise. But every other prison in Ireland has refused to take him and he has to stay where he is.
A prison source said: “Penrose has been having a dirty protest for the past week. He can’t believe he was found guilty and got life.
“He is very angry . He is extremely violent and has an answer for everything. The cell is disgusting.”
In 2010, Penrose killed another friend David Sharkey (28).
He was found guilty of manslaughter in court and got nine years.
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