Ill prisoner should have been checked more often by prison staff

Ill prisoner should have been checked more often by prison staff

A report by the Office of the Inspector of Prisons found that an inmate, who died in Wheatfield Prison, had not been checked for one hour 40 minutes instead of every 15 minutes required by protocol. Picture: File picture

An inmate found dead in his cell at Wheatfield Prison should have been the subject of more intensive checks as he was on Special Observation for medical purposes.

A report by the Office of the Inspector of Prisons (OIP) found that instead of being checked every 15 minutes, the inmate, referred to as Mr D, went unchecked for one hour 40 minutes on the evening of February 4, 2018.

It's understood Mr D was Samuel Jennings, who was sentenced to life in prison on November 7, 2006, for the murder of 54-year-old Waterford mother of two, Mary "Mamie" Walsh. 

She had died from severe head injuries and her body was found in the boot of her car on August 31, 2004. During the murder trial in 2006, the court heard that Ms Walsh, a loan company agent, was killed for the money she was due to lodge in the bank.

According to the inspection report, Mr D, 72, was accommodated on his own in a single cell on East 1 landing in Wheatfield Prison. Efforts to contact his next of kin proved unsuccessful and records show he made no phone calls during his last two years in prison and had one pastoral visit.

The report said Mr D was originally from overseas and had been living in the southeast prior to incarceration. Mr Jennings, who was 61 when he was sentenced, was originally from Scotland and had lived in Kilmacthomas in Co Waterford.

The report said he had been diagnosed with cancer, had undergone surgery and made regular hospital visits throughout 2017. Another prisoner stated that Mr D told him that “he had refused any more hospital treatment”.

According to the report, Mr D was on Special Observation ‘for medical purposes’ but he was not accommodated in a Special Observation Cell.

"In accordance with IPS Standard Operating Procedures in place at the time, a Special Observation Prisoner should have been checked every 15 minutes by operational staff and every two hours by nursing staff," it said. "The CCTV footage viewed showed that Mr. D’s cell was master locked at 19:20:55 and the next check of his cell was 21:00:55. There was a period of one hour and 40 minutes from the time Mr. D’s cell was master locked to the next check."

He was found unresponsive in his cell at 9.05pm.

The OIP made four recommendations arising out of the case, all accepted by the IPS, including that "IPS Management must ensure that Supervisory staff oversee all required duties, such as checking prisoners, to ensure that such duties are properly undertaken in line with IPS Policy and Standard Operating Procedures and detailed records are recorded in relevant journals".

The inspector also said an operational report submitted by an officer was lacking in detail and it submitted a written request seeking factual information.

The officer responded "advising that following counselling to help them cope with the immense trauma they suffered that night that the 'incident no longer forms part of my memory data'."

"The officer also stated that they did not know if they “could cope with the pressure from your department [referring to the Office of the Inspector of Prisons] forcing me to recall this absolute horrible experience as its (sic) like living a nightmare over again.” 

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