An investigation into the report of a 59 year old man at Midlands prison said that the circumstances of his death were unconscionable after there was a 14 minute delay to unlock his cell before he was provided with medical treatment.
The deceased, who was refered to in the report as Mr D, was serving a five year sentence and had been committed to the prison on 18 October 2018.
On August 2nd 2021, there was an emergency call to Mr D's cell, and it was reported that his face was swollen. He wrote a note which read: "I had a reaction to antibiotics".
The officer that found him alerted nursing staff through theior radio system, although when she got to the cell they were informed that she did not have a key to open his cell.
The report stated that the key they need was in another locked room, and the person who hads the key to open said room had gone to the staff tea room and did not have their radio on them.
As they were looking forthekey to Mr D's cell, the nurse said she was talking to him through the window and described him as distressed and having difficulty breathing.
As she was observing, another nurse had retrieved a bag of medical equipment, and had called to control for an ambulance.
Medical equipment was prepared for when the cell was opened.
Once the door to Mr D's cell, an EpiPen was administered who was at this stage unconcious. CPR was administered but the nurse said that there were facing complications due to his throat being swollen. He was then issued Oxygen via a non-rebreather mask and he was moved to the floor to enable more effective CPR. A defibrillator was used but with no shock applied, before a second EpiPen was then administered. Mr D was later pronounced dead.
Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) Legal and Public Affairs Manager Niamh McCormack said that the report was "extremely distressing to read" and detailed how the man was unable to speak due to the swelling in his throat. Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland, she said that it was important to acknowledge that the family of Mr D had been waiting five years to find out what happned to their loved one.
McCormack explained that this has become a "trend" that they are seeing in deaths of custody reports as they are left sitting on a ministers desk "for years."
"Our understanding is that with redactions, it can take up time, and there were redactions in this report. The decision was made to redact details from a post mortem examination of the man who passed away," she said.
She explained that "serious questions" need to be asked about where the deceased man's key was, she also explained that the key was not manned when the member of staff went to the break room as this position was removed and was noted as being a cost saving measure.
"It's not unforeseeable that there would be an incident where an emergency would happen and you would need to access a prisoner, so what risk assessment was done? There were 300 prisoners that day who were left without having emergency access," McCormack said.
"The keys were lost but even if they had arrived to the key room there was no one there to let them in, so there are serious questions that need to be asked around how this happened ... we understand that there has been an update in Midlands Prison but how did the decision get made in the first place? Was there any risk assessment done?" she continued.
