At least 15 prisoners took their own lives over past decade

Mon, 13 Feb, 2023 - 12:00

Ann Murphy

At least 15 prisoners have taken their own lives in the past decade, while four inmates died in Irish prisons in the first month of this year, according to statistics provided by the Department of Justice.

The most recent death in custody statistics have been provided by the Minister for Justice Simon Harris in response to a parliamentary question and cover from January 1, 2012, to January 30 this year.

The statistics show that 115 deaths in custody have taken place in that period — including four so far this year. There were 20 deaths in prisons last year, compared with just eight in both 2020 and 2021. The number of deaths last year was the highest during the 10-year period addressed in the reply from Minister Harris.

While inquests are outstanding in 60 of the deaths, 15 of the 55 which had taken place up to January 30 related to prisoners who took their own lives.

The suicide statistics do not include the death of 29-year-old Corkman Andrew Gearns while an inmate of Cork prison. He died at Cork University Hospital in October 2020 after an attempt on his own life, and a jury returned a suicide verdict at his inquest on February 3.

Self-harm

The Irish Penal Reform Trust says the number of suicides in prisons is concerning and it is calling for the publication of up-to-date insight into self-harm in prisons, through the Self-Harm Assessment and Data Analysis (SADA) Project. The project posted its last report in 2021, covering 2019.

A spokeswoman for the IPRT said: “We do not, therefore, have an updated insight into the level of self-harm in prisons: this is particularly concerning given the impact Covid-19 restrictions undoubtedly had on the mental health and wellbeing of prisoners.”

Mr Harris said that the Irish Prison Service has a “robust, internal review mechanism which assesses the circumstances of a death in custody, highlights accountability and actions taken in relation to the incident, and outlines lessons learned”.

He added that the outcome review is reported to the Irish Prison Service National Suicide and Harm Prevention Steering Group, which is chaired by the Director General.

He continued: “The circumstances of each death in custody and incident of self-harm are also examined by a suicide prevention group in each institution.

"The groups are chaired by the Prison Governor and include representatives from the various services including; Prison Doctor, Psychiatry, Psychology, Chaplaincy, Probation, Education, and Prison staff. The Groups are required to meet quarterly, or more often if necessary. Their examinations fully cover the background and circumstances of each death and their objective is to identify, where possible, measures which might be implemented to contribute to a reduction in the risk of deaths in the future.”

'Very worrying'

Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín, who sought the information, said that he is deeply concerned at the recent upward trend in the number of prisoners who die each year.

He said: “The causes of death are also very worrying — 13% died by suicide, 9.5% from misadventure, and for over 50% the inquest is still pending. In the past 10 years, 69 people have died while on temporary release but the government doesn't appear to hold data on the cause of death in that category. These may be criminals but each one of these people are human beings, and behind each statistic are grieving loved ones or grieving families.” Support and helplines:

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