Prisoner is found hanged in cell

An investigation is underway into the death of a remand prisoner in his mid-60s who was found hanged in his cell at Arbour Hill in Dublin last night. The man, from the Sligo area, had been on remand since March on a rape charge. He has not yet been named.

He was discovered shortly after 7 p.m. hanging by a makeshift rope made of bed-sheets. He had been sharing a cell with another remand prisoner who left for the exercise yard minutes before he was discovered.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice said prison officers checked with the man 10 minutes beforehand to see why he had not gone on exercise. It was not clear whether the man was found by officers or by another prisoner.

A Garda investigation has been launched and details of the incident have been passed to the prison's Suicide Prevention Group. The Department of Justice is to conduct a separate inquiry. A Department spokesman said it was the first case of suicide in Arbour Hill this year. The prison is populated primarily by sex offenders, with up to 120 prisoners at any one time.