Another inmate at Forest Bank prison in Salford has died. They collapsed and died in hospital on Wednesday, a prison spokesman has confirmed.
In November Jake O’Brien, 22, from Altrincham, collapsed at the prison and his death was confirmed after he was taken to Salford Royal Hospital.
Investigations are underway into both deaths. Following the latest fatality, a spokesperson at HMP Forest Bank said: “We can confirm that a prisoner died in hospital on Wednesday 8 January. Our thoughts and condolences are with the family at this time. As with all deaths in custody, there will be an investigation by the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman and therefore we are unable to comment further at this stage.”
Mr O’Brien was on remand at the Category B men’s after being charged with car crime offences. Jake’s mum, Sarah O’Brien, 39, from Altrincham, Trafford, said at the time: “I am deeply saddened to lose my first-born, precious baby boy. Your life had only just begun and it has been taken away from you. You truly did deserve more than this.
“Jake is a precious son and big brother and he will be sadly missed. As a family we ask for privacy to allow us to grieve and to come to terms with what has happened.”
The prison has been hit by a series of fatalities in recent years. They include Michael McDonagh , 27, who was found unresponsive in his cell in February 2019 and 63-year-old Raymond Lucy, who was found dead in his cell in July of that year.
In September last year, an inquest jury found Mr McDonagh, who was prescribed a ‘combination of drugs’ died after ‘serious failings’ in his care. He was prescribed a number of drugs that acted in combination to depress his central nervous system – including methadone.
The jury found the medics responsible for the prescription of methadone ‘failed to carry out adequate enquiries’ into Mr McDonagh’s tolerance to opiate medication’ before deciding to prescribe the drug. They also found they then ‘failed to monitor him in the days that followed in line with prison and national health guidelines’ – a failing they concluded probably contributed to Michael’s death.
Mr Lucy’s death was ‘unpreventable’ despite his family claiming his prison cell had no fresh air, a coroner ruled in November.
An M.E.N. investigation into Forest Bank prison in 2023 uncovered allegations of widespread drug use and inmates who ‘run the wings’, prompting an MP and Salford’s mayor to write to the government to demand an ‘urgent’ review.
Our revelations included a call from Salford and Eccles MP Rebecca Long-Bailey for the Ministry of Justice to cancel a billion pound contract it has with facilities management giant Sodexo to run the troubled jail.
Our investigation, based on allegations from a whistle-blower, an ex-prisoner and his father, and the family of a grandfather who died in his cell, exposed what Salford and Eccles MP Rebecca Long-Bailey branded a ‘culture of lawlessness’ at the jail.
We revealed that:
- Drugs are rife, smuggled in via ‘legal letters’ and inmates are ‘off their t**s a lot of the time’
- Inmates brew their own hooch
- Violence is commonplace and inmates ‘run the wings’
- Staff feel ‘unsafe’ and a lone guard can be ‘left to guard 100-plus inmates’
- Staff have to buy ‘their own uniform because of cost-cutting’
- A desperate father paid off a drug dealer on his addict son’s wing because ‘staff didn’t protect him’
Sodexo’s contract to run the prison ends on January 19, 2025. Back in 1998, it was awarded a deal worth £1,006,771,964 to design, build and run the prison built on the site of the former Agecroft power station under a private finance initiative to house a maximum 1,064 inmates. The deal was to last 25 years, before being extended.
The facilities management giant, founded and based in France, runs six prisons in England and Scotland, and in 2023 recorded revenues of 21.1 billion euros, including ‘underlying operating profit’ of more than a billion euros, up 83 per cent. An announcement on the contract is due imminently.
The Manchester Evening News has asked the Ministry of Justice for an update on any new contract.