Family of man who killed himself in custody awarded €50,000

The family of a man charged with murder who killed himself in a cell at Cloverhill Courthouse despite being on a suicide watch have settled their High Court damages action for €50,000.

Shane Rogers was found unconscious in a holding cell beneath the courthouse on the afternoon of December 20th, 2011. He was taken to hospital but died a short time later.

At the time of his death, Mr Rogers (32) had been charged with the murder of a GAA player, James Hughes in Dundalk, Co Louth in December 2011.   He had also been accused of shooting a taxi driver and Patricia Byrne, his former girlfriend.

Mr Rogers' death was subject of a report compiled by Judge Michael Reilly, the inspector of prisons, who identified several failing by the prison authorities in respect of Mr Rogers.

In their action seeking damages for mental shock and distress, Mr Rogers' family claimed the Governor of Cloverhill Prison, the Minister for Justice, Ireland and the Attorney General acted negligently, in breach of duty and in breach of their obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights towards Shane Rogers.

They claimed the prison authorities failed to search Mr Rogers for a ligature when he arrived at the prison. They also claimed and was not provided with any adequate psychological assessment or treatment during the time he was at the prison.

They also alleged failures to monitor prisoners in solitary confinement or in holding cells prior to a court hearing and to have an adequate system in place to communicate to orison officers details relating to fragile and vulnerable prisoners.

The action came before Ms Justice Deirdre Murphy on Monday. She approved the settlement and also acknowledged the report complied by Judge Reilly in respect of Mr Roger's death.

In his report, Judge Reilly said there was, in Mr Rogers’ case, inadequate record keeping and failure of sections of the prison system to communicate with each other. There was also a failure to adhere to stated work practices and absence of governance to ensure compliance with work procedures, he found.

Some of the problems related to Mr Rogers transfer to the courthouse from Cloverhill prison for a scheduled hearing.

Despite instructions he was to be checked every 15 minutes, the report found Mr Rogers was not checked from 12.03pm until 12.58pm, when he was found unconscious by officers and an alarm was raised.

Judge Reilly found staff at the courthouse did not known about Mr Roger’s status as a vulnerable prisoner within Cloverhill.

The dead man’s solicitor and family had contacted the prison days before his death expressing their fears he was suicidal, the report also noted.