‘How many more must die in that prison?’
MUM’S FURY AS SON IS THIRD INMATE FOUND DEAD AT FOREST BANK IN 7 MONTHS:
A MUM has spoken of her devastation after her son was found dead at Forest Bank.
Prison bosses are investigating the death of Michael McDonagh, 27, who was a serving inmate at the Salford jail.
Dad-of-one Michael was found unresponsive in his cell on Tuesday, February 19.
Michael is the third inmate to die at the jail in the space of seven months. He had been returned to custody following a serious driving offence last year. But his mum, Margaret McDonagh, says her son suffered with mental health problems and he should never have been returned to the ‘general population’ wings.
“He had paranoid schizophrenia – he was not well,” Margaret says.
“I pleaded for him to be moved. He never should have been in prison. I asked for him to be sectioned.
“If they had moved him from that kennel he may still be alive.”
Forest Bank bosses say the cause of Michael’s death is not yet known.
An internal investigation and an investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman is ongoing.
The case has been passed on to the coroner and an inquest is due to take place in the coming months. But Margaret is demanding answers.
She says Michael was unhappy at the prison, where he had been for the past six months and had been moved from a vulnerable prisoners wing to the prison’s ‘general population’ wings. “He said he didn’t like it,” she says. “He told me ‘it’s bad, mum.’ “As a mum to have your child in a zoo, because that’s what it is, is awful. He kept asking me day in and day out get him out. He said ‘I need to get out mum, I need to get out.’ He would have been out in 18 months.
“(Everyone in the prison) they have all done stuff but they are human and that’s my baby. How many deaths will happen in that jail before anyone listens? I would never wish this pain on any other mother.”
Margaret has also criticised prison bosses for their handling of the case, claiming that she has been left confused about who to speak to about her son’s death.
Margaret says the news of Michael’s death was broken to her over the phone because she was out when two prison representatives visited her home in Failsworth, Oldham.
She says she has struggled to get any information about how her son died.
“I had a phone call the morning he died saying ‘Is this Margaret McDonagh? We need to speak to you. We’re at your house.’
“I told them not to go in the house because my children were in there. I was saying ‘what’s wrong, what’s happened?’ They said Michael had been found that morning deceased. I was on the phone in my car. I was screaming.”
She adds: “They have not given me any explanation. I don’t know what happened to him.”
Margaret, a Catholic, says she has since called the prison chaplain, in the hope of gaining some comfort, but says her call was not returned.
She has also visited the mortuary where Michael’s body is being held and says she ‘begged’ to see him.
“I said I wanted to see him. But I couldn’t touch him. I had to look at him through the glass,” she said.
“I’ve not been able to kiss him or touch him. I just want him home. I saw him but I couldn’t go near him. He was so beautiful. Such a beautiful son.”
The M.E.N. understands that the prison director and a family liaison officer visited Margaret at home on the morning of her son’s death.
HMP Forest Bank is run by the private firm Sodexo on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.
A spokesperson confirmed that a prisoner had died and said an investigation is ongoing.