Prison staff failed to notice 4 times that inmate had died at Mountjoy

The prison watchdog has criticised the authorities in Mountjoy for repeated failures by staff to notice that a prisoner had died in his cell.

The inspector of prisons, Patricia Gilheaney, has called for “zero tolerance” to be shown by the Irish Prison Service (IPS) over failures to carry out mandatory checks at regular intervals on inmates as well as appropriate disciplinary action to be taken on prison officers who failed to perform such duties.

It follows a new report into the death of a 41-year-old prisoner at Mountjoy on January 10, 2018, which found prison officers had missed at least four opportunities to have noticed that the unnamed prisoner had died during the night.

The report noted that the prisoner had gone unchecked for two periods of two-and-a-half hours on the night, when he should have been checked hourly, in accordance with IPS standard operating procedures.

Ms Gilheaney said a night guard, as well as prison officers who unlocked and locked the prisoner’s cell for breakfast and who later unlocked his cell to allow him out to attend morning activities, had all failed to identify a serious situation.

The prisoner, who was serving a life sentence, was found unresponsive in his cell by two other inmates at 9.57am.

The report said one prison officer, who rushed to the cell, said the prisoner’s face appeared to be covered in vomit.

Ms Gilheaney said prison officers unlocking a cell for breakfast should particularly ensure that they sought and received a verbal response from each prisoner to ensure they were alive.

The report said CCTV footage had also found the prison officer with responsibility for the landing on which the prisoner died had not remained at their post for the duration of their work shift.

The IPS said a review of its policy and procedures in relation to the monitoring of prisoners had led to the introduction of a new policy which dealt comprehensively with the responsibility of prison staff to check on all prisoners in custody.

It said all prison staff had been made aware that the failure to carry out mandatory monitoring of inmates would be regarded as serious misconduct, warranting disciplinary action that could result in sanctions up to and including dismissal.