A ‘DANGEROUS AND volatile’ prisoner serving a life sentence for murder has lost an appeal against a High Court ruling that Mountjoy Prison had acted appropriately in placing the double killer in solitary confinement. Penrose’s High Court proceedings concerned an action against the governor of Mountjoy Prison, the Irish Prison Service (IPS) and the Department of Justice over the authorities’ decision to place him in the Challenging Behaviour Unit (CBU), commonly referred to as solitary confinement. As part of his appeal, Penrose, who represented himself, submitted handwritten submissions, running to 115 A4 pages. Prison authorities also told the High Court of other breaches of discipline committed by Penrose, including threatening to place a bounty on the prison governor’s head and deliberately exposing himself to a female prison officer. At the three-day High Court hearing and Court of Appeal hearing, Penrose represented himself and cross-examined Mountjoy Governor, David Treacy over two days in the High Court.