Fresh call for review after man takes his own life in Cork Prison

An independent medical review was first sought by the coroner’s court after Andrew Gearns' death in Cork Prison in 2020. Picture: Dan Linehan

The brother of a man who died by suicide in Cork Prison has called for an urgent independent review into medical care after another man took his own life there following cancelled psychiatric appointments.

A Polish national, identified only as Mr C in the Inspector of Prisons’ report, was found to have taken his own life in January 2022 after two psychiatric appointments were cancelled because of a lack of prison staff.

An independent medical review was first sought by the coroner’s court after Andrew Gearns, aged 29, took his own life in Cork Prison in September 2020.

His brother Evan Gearns said that coroners’ recommendations should be enforceable

“People are dying because coroners’ recommendations are not being enforced, Mr Gearns said.

“Young men and women are dying. Changes needed to happen in 2020.”

Mr Gearns said he cried last week when he read that a man aged 24 had taken his own life in Cork Prison in January 2022, shortly after two psychiatry appointments were cancelled due to lack of prison staff.

Evan Gearns, right, pictured with his brother Andrew, said 'people are dying because coroners’ recommendations are not being enforced'.

A report by the Inspector of Prisons (IoP) into the death of Polish national Mr C called on the Irish Prison Service (IPS) to ensure healthcare appointments for prisoners are not cancelled because prison staff are unavailable to escort them.

“I cried when I read about it. It brought back memories,” Mr Gearns said.

“My mum was very angry, thinking about that man’s mother and what she has to go through now.

Medical treatment for prisoners is not up to standard and is not being looked after in the way it should be.

Approximately one in three people in prison is on a waiting list for mental health services, according to a recent report by the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT).

When asked if an independent review of all medical care at Cork Prison had begun, the IPS said that the Health Needs Assessment of the entire prison service was published on May 11.

Although this is not the review called for by the coroner’s court, it did analyse the health needs of prisoners, the demands for healthcare services, and the level of healthcare provided. It made 60 recommendations to improve the service.

The main recommendation of the report is that responsibility for prison healthcare services should remain with the IPS.

Three of four recommendations made by the Office of the Inspector of Prisons report into Mr Gearns’ death are now in place and one is ongoing, the IPS said.

One of those IoP report recommendations requested that a clear handover be given by gardaí to prison staff on a person’s committal to prison. This had also been called for at an earlier inquest. The IPS said there will be further discussions with An Garda Síochána regarding this.

It was not known at the time of publication whether a computer glitch in the IPS IT system which wrongly entered old medical details in Mr Gearns’ prison committal documents had been fixed. 

The coroner determined the cause of death as suicide in two cases in custody since 2020, though some death-in-custody inquests over that timeframe may not have concluded yet.