Cloverhill prisoner (20) overdosed from drugs thrown over wall and concealed in his body

Seán McCárthaigh

A young prisoner who died from a heroin overdose shortly after picking up drugs thrown over the wall at Cloverhill Prison and concealing them in his body was “under pressure” from other prisoners to receive contraband, an inquest has heard.

Stephen Watson (20) from Ongar in Dublin was found dead in his cell on the morning of April 27th, 2021, just three weeks after he was remanded to the prison while awaiting trial on a charge of theft.

A postmortem concluded that he died as a result of heroin toxicity, while the inquest heard a bag of unidentified green tablets was also recovered from his rectum.

An assistant chief officer in Cloverhill, Shaun Gallery, told a sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court that he believed Mr Watson may have been “unsafe” after “losing” a mobile phone when he had admitted to prison officers on April 26th, 2021, that he had concealed it in his body together with drugs.

Mr Gallery said he had no doubt that the phone was not for Mr Watson which was why a decision was taken to place him in a close supervision cell overnight for his own safety where he would be checked every 15 minutes.

In reply to questions from the coroner, Myra Cullinane, he explained that it was due to the danger from other prisoners as well as from potentially having drugs in his body.

Mr Gallery said Mr Watson was “under pressure” and had become emotional when discussing the issue.

He recalled that the prisoner told him that it was the last time that he would do it and that he was “not going to get involved anymore.”

Mr Gallery said the deceased wanted to tell him more but could not at that stage.

He outlined how Mr Watson promised him that he had nothing else concealed on his body and that he would talk to him again the following day.

Mr Gallery said it could be a “very dangerous” situation as who was going to believe that the prisoner had not handed the phone over to prison staff.

Another prison officer, Derek Donnelly, told the inquest that the deceased had been issued with two disciplinary notices for breaching prison rules over the previous two days for throwing objects at the net over the prison yard.

He said Mr Watson was again observed doing the same thing with a bottle and picking stuff up off the ground and putting it in his pocket on the evening of April 26th, 2021.

Mr Donnelly said the prisoner told him he had got rid of everything after being escorted to a toilet, while a metal detector subsequently indicated that there was nothing left in his body.

In reply to questions from Dr Cullinane, the witness said Mr Watson had appeared fine and co-operative and not under the influence of drugs.

He acknowledged that throwing of drugs onto the net in the prison yard was “a common occurrence.”

Cross-examined by counsel for the deceased’s family, Rachel Foody BL, Mr Donnelly said he had taken the prisoner’s word that he had nothing left in his body.

Mr Donnelly stressed that prison officers had no way of determining if there could still be drugs inside a prisoner but that he had no concerns about Mr Watson that would have required any medical intervention.

The inquest heard evidence from several prison officers who carried out regular checks on Mr Watson during the night and stated they did not notice any issue with the prisoner that would cause any concern.

An alarm was raised at around 8.50am the following morning when the prisoner was unresponsive when his cell door was opened for breakfast.

Chief nurse officer, Rosie Gately, said it was clear that the prisoner was deceased as his body was cold and clammy with signs of rigor mortis.

State pathologist, Heidi Okkers, estimated that Mr Watson had been dead for a number of hours before his body was discovered.

Dr Okkers said toxicology reports found evidence of drugs including heroin and morphine in the prisoner’s blood and urine but no alcohol.

The coroner remarked that Mr Watson would not have been used to heroin, which could be fatal in small amounts.

Sergeant Bernard Eustace told the coroner that he had not received any results on the bag of tablets recovered from Mr Watson’s body which was sent for testing to Forensic Science Ireland, while a plastic wrap found in the prisoner’s cell had also not been analysed.

The inquest heard it had not been established why the results were unavailable.

A jury of six women and three men returned a verdict of death by misadventure but made no recommendations after endorsing changes already made by the Irish Prison Service following Mr Watson’s death.

New policy

The governor of Cloverhill Prison, Kevin O’Connell, gave evidence that a new policy had been introduced in the prison, which had been expanded to all prisons in January 2025, whereby healthcare assessments are now carried out on all prisoners suspected of having concealed drugs in their body.

Mr O’Connell said the policy had led to more healthcare monitoring and interventions in such cases.

The governor said a more robust, secure form of netting was also due to be put in place over the next couple of weeks in the prison yard to prevent attempts to get drugs and weapons into Cloverhill.

Mr O’Connell said the IPS enjoyed an excellent relationship with gardaí and noted that there had been 25 arrests over a recent six-week period of individuals throwing contraband or operating drones near Cloverhill.

He confirmed a tender would also be issued shortly for the provision of technology to monitor special observation cells which could alert prison staff if the condition of a prisoner was deteriorating.

At the conclusion of the inquest, Dr Cullinane offered condolences to the deceased’s mother, Laura Watson, on her “very huge loss.”

The coroner expressed hope that “some small measure of good” would come out of his death but acknowledged that “nothing can make up for the loss of a treasured son.”

After the hearing, Ms Watson expressed hope that the changes made in the prison system would make sure that the way her son died “would not happen to any other family.”

She said her son’s death was “absolutely devastating” and expressed disappointment that there were no results available for any tests that may have been carried out on the bag of tablets found in his body.

“That could have answered a lot of questions,” she added.

In a report into Mr Watson’s death published last year, the Office of the Inspector of Prisons recommended greater measures be implemented to prevent prisoners being pressured and coerced into bringing drugs and other contraband into prisons.

The report noted that CCTV footage appeared to show Mr Watson being intimidated by two “high profile” inmates, who were facing serious offences, into recovering contraband items thrown onto netting over the prison’s exercise yard the day before he was found dead in his prison cell.

It observed that his body language appeared to be uncomfortable with the interaction, while he was also younger and physically smaller than the other two prisoners.