Two NI prison governors prison governors face a disciplinary inquiry today after a damning report revealed that an inmate on suicide watch hanged himself in a secure unit where staff slept on duty.
Governor Alan Longwell and his deputy, Steve Davis, of Maghaberry jail, Co Antrim, will be the first UK prison heads to come under investigation if the recommendations are accepted.
Prisoner Ombudsman Pauline McCabe’s 186-page report revealed that staff slept on makeshift beds, smoked and watched TV in a special unit where inmate Colin Bell hanged himself last August.
The 34-year-old, jailed for an attack in which a man was burned to death, had a history of self-harm in prison.
In a statement his family said his death could have easily been prevented and they will sue the government for damages.
"When we left Colin for the last time, we were assured by prison staff that he would be looked after - when we saw him again he was dead," they said. "This report amounts to a damning indictment of the entire prison system from the governor at the top to the prison staff who fell asleep while Colin tried to kill himself three times before ending his life."
Prison’s minister Paul Goggins today apologised and announced a review of policy, promising the events would be a watershed in prison history.
The report said investigators viewed footage of officers who were supposed to be monitoring live video links to cells.
“The secure pod officer can be observed preparing and using a makeshift bed,” said the report. “He and other officers (four at one point) can be observed sitting, chatting, smoking cigarettes, using the computer and watching television.”
The report found checks on prisoners were not made and catalogued a series of shortcomings, including poor records from the night of July 31st and early morning of August 1st when the prisoner was found dead.
The report revealed that Mr Bell made repeated attempts to call the Samaritans using a special link in his cell and that he wrapped toilet paper round his feet to stay warm. After repeated suicide attempts, he killed himself in his cell but his body lay for nearly 40 minutes before being found.
The report failed to find evidence to support claims that he was being bullied by prison officers, while police could not find evidence of a threat against him from other inmates.
The Ombudsman said Mr Bell was taken to an observation cell for his own protection, but the Prison Service may have breached its own guidelines and used the move as a punishment.
While the cells were to be used in the short term, it was found that prior to his death the prisoner was kept in the cell for six continuous days and for 40 days in the previous five months.
The Ombudsman noted that disciplinary investigations are being carried out by the Prison Service into the actions of 17 prison staff at Maghaberry. She made 44 recommendations, the last of which proposes an investigation into two of the prison service’s most senior figures.