A 41 year old prison officer collapsed and died during a skirmish inside Wheatfield Prison on the outskirts of Dublin last night, writes Jim Cusack, Security Correspondent.
The officer was one of several sent to break up a fight among prisoners during the evening meal period when he collapsed. Medical assistance was called but he was declared dead by the time he was taken to the James Connolly Memorial Hospital, Blanchardstown.
According to prison sources, fighting broke out and an officer who tried to intervene was slashed in the face and received a serious wound. He was being treated in hospital last night.
The officer who died was one of the party called to break up the fighting. He collapsed as the officers were about to enter a room where the fighting was taking place. The dead man was married with a family and lived in the Clonsilla area.