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Stock image of Maghaberry Prison(Image: Philip Magowan \/ Press Eye)<\/p>\nWallace Ferguson was found unresponsive in his cell on February 12, 2024Stock image of Maghaberry Prison(Image: Philip Magowan \/ Press Eye)<\/p>\n
The Prisoner Ombudsman has released a report following an investigation into the death of a man at a prison in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
Wallace Ferguson was found unresponsive in his cell at Maghaberry Prison on February 12, 2024, and despite the efforts of healthcare staff there, he was pronounced dead shortly after 11pm.<\/p>\n
The 55-year-old had been remanded in custody on September 27, 2023, with the report stating that over the next few months there were a couple of incidents where healthcare staff had concerns regarding his mental health and ability to keep himself safe, but these were addressed.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Man sentenced for domestic abuse that resulted in victim fleeing to England to live<\/a>READ MORE: Man caught messaging ‘child’ by paedophile hunter group avoids jail<\/a><\/p>\n However in the days prior to his death he had reported feeling down due to the breakdown in a personal relationship on February 2, but five days later said he was feeling better.<\/p>\n He was then found unresponsive in his cell on February 12, by a prison officer at 10.15pm who was carrying out a routine inspection. The previous inspection at 8.30pm did not report any concerns regarding Mr Ferguson.<\/p>\n The report into his death said the cause of death recorded on the post-mortem was \u201cHanging\u201d. It also said that the care Mr Ferguson had received during his time in prison was “at least equivalent to what he might have received within the community”.<\/p>\n It made no recommendations made to the Northern Ireland Prison Service or the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust.<\/p>\n Speaking on the publication of the report into Mr Ferguson\u2019s death, the Prisoner Ombudsman, Darrin Jones, said: “I offer my condolences to Mr Ferguson\u2019s family on their loss. I would like to thank Mr Ferguson\u2019s family, Northern Ireland Prison Service and the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust for their co-operation with the investigation conducted by my Office.”<\/p>\n Anyone can contact Samaritans FREE any time from any phone on 116 123, even a mobile without credit. This number won\u2019t show up on your phone bill. Or you can email jo@samaritans.org or visit www.samaritans.org to find details of your nearest branch.<\/p>\n Click this link<\/a> or scan the QR code to receive breaking news and top stories from Belfast Live. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you\u2019re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice<\/a>.<\/p>\n For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage <\/strong>here<\/a> and sign up to our daily newsletter<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wallace Ferguson was found unresponsive in his cell on February 12, 2024Stock image of Maghaberry Prison(Image: Philip Magowan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[14925,161070,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-487277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-department-of-justice","9":"tag-maghaberry-prison","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115347653040056477","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1_WhatsApp-community-QR-code-Belfast1.png\")
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