Prisoner 'optimistic about future', inquest hears

Christopher Corkill was found unresponsive in his cell at the Isle of Man Prison in February 2023

An inmate who died at the Isle of Man Prison was "optimistic for the future" when he was last seen by the drug and alcohol team, an inquest has heard.

Christopher Corkill was found unresponsive in his prison cell at the Jurby facility on the morning of the 24 February 2023.

Consultant psychiatrist Kirsten Wafer from the Drug and Alcohol Team said Mr Corkill had been "hopeful" when he spoke to a keyworker on 8 February.

She said she had last seen him in December, when he told her he no longer needed to see her, and had also declined to see the separate mental health team.

However, Dr Wafer told the hearing Mr Corkill had not been in good health in the weeks prior to his arrest in July 2022, and had heard voices telling him to hurt himself "to check that he was alive".

While he had been placed under a self-harm risk management policy, known as a folder five, when he was admitted to the facility he had subsequently been taken off it, but the forms were not completed in full at the time, the inquest at Douglas Courthouse heard.

Segregation

On 12 August Mr Corkill filed a medical complaint requesting a change to his medication in which he said his mental health was at an "all time low" and he had not been seen by a doctor despite being in the facility for "almost a month".

While Dr Wafer said she had not been made aware of that complaint, she had seen him on 18 August, and would not have changed his medication as it would have made his symptoms worse.

The court heard that Mr Corkill had been placed in segregation for breaking the prison rules - for 14 days in September 2022 and again for 21 days from 6 January 2023 - the isolation of which Dr Wafer said would have an affect on "anybody's mental health".

Pathologist James Lyness told the inquest the 46-year-old's medical cause of death was suffocation, and he would have likely died within a few minutes.

Mr Corkill's was the third death in custody at the facility since 2020, but prior to that there had been no deaths at the facility for about 40 years, the prison's deputy governor Martin Phillips told the hearing.

He said a number of changes had been made at the prison after the deaths, including more restrictions on the items permitted in the facility and training for staff to enable them to determine when CPR was not appropriate.

No changes had been implemented to checks during the night on prisoners who were not considered vulnerable as that would be "intrusive", he added.

The inquest continues.