Vol. 470 No. 1
258 Ms O'Donnell asked the Minister for Justice whether an investigation has taken place into the circumstances surrounding the death by suicide of a prisoner (details supplied); whether an inquest has been held in this regard; whether the internal investigation by the prison authorities has been completed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18621/96]
The Coroner's inquest into the death of the person referred to by the Deputy has not yet been held. At 1.35 p.m. on 27 February 1996 an officer checked the deceased in his cell. He appeared to be normal. The officer returned to the cell at 1.45 p.m. and found him hanging from the toilet door in his cell. He had a sheet tied around his neck. Two officers entered the cell and removed the sheet from his neck and they began to resuscitate him. Almost immediately other officers arrived in the area and they notified the medical orderlies, who immediately responded and on their arrival commenced Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation. The ambulance arrived at 1.55 p.m., and the deceased was removed to the Accident and Emergency Department of the Mater Hospital. He died on Friday, 1 March at 3.40 p.m.
It was a most unfortunate death, as it appears that the resuscitation efforts undertaken by prison staff, the ambulance crew and the medical staff at the Mater Hospital almost saved the deceased's life. I am also satisfied that nothing more could have been done in the prison to prevent the death. This death, like any other suicide in prison, has been referred to and examined by the suicide awareness group in Mountjoy Prison in accordance with the recommendations made in the report of the advisory group on Prison Deaths that was published in August 1991.
