THE DEATH of Shane Rogers while on suicide watch at Cloverhill Prison underlines the need for a prisons ombudsman, the Irish Penal Reform Trust has said.
Executive director Liam Herrick said the current system under which deaths in jails were investigated internally by the Irish Prison Service and also by the Garda was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.
“If you die in a Garda station in this country the case is immediately sent to the Garda ombudsman for an independent investigation, but this process is not in place for prison deaths.”
He called on Minister for Justice and Defence Alan Shatter to begin the process of establishing a prisons ombudsman here. It would investigate deaths such as that of Mr Rogers in an independent and speedy manner and in consultation with the family of deceased persons, he said.
The Garda investigation under way will inform the coroner’s inquest into the death. The results of prison service investigations into previous deaths in custody have not been published or made public in any way.
Mr Rogers (32), from Deery Terrace, Inniskeen, Co Monaghan, was found dead in a holding cell in Cloverhill courthouse at 1.30pm on Tuesday. He had just appeared before a judge in the courthouse and was about to be taken back to the prison at the Cloverhill complex in Clondalkin, west Dublin, when he was found unconscious.
He was taken by ambulance to Tallaght hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. He had taken his own life.
Mr Rogers was on remand at the prison after being charged last week with murdering James Hughes at Carrickmacross Road, Dundalk, Co Louth, in the early hours of Sunday, December 11th.
He had earlier clashed with Mr Hughes in a nightclub after he saw his ex-girlfriend Trish Byrne (21) with Mr Hughes in the club.
He later shot Mr Hughes dead outside Ms Byrne’s home at Cluain Ard, Lis na Dara, a housing estate on the outskirts of Dundalk, as Mr Hughes and Ms Byrne sat in a taxi.
Mr Hughes, from Crossmaglen in Co Armagh, was a central figure with the successful GAA club Crossmaglen Rangers.
After the murder, Mr Rogers presented himself at Carrickmacross Garda station.
