HMP Woodhill: 'Missed opportunities' in prison death

Ryan Harvey died five days after he was found hanging in his cell

A prison governor has admitted staff might have missed opportunities to help a man who was found hanging in his cell.

Ryan Harvey, 23, was found at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, on 3 May 2015.

Harvey, who had learning difficulties, died five days later in hospital.

Governor Nicola Marfleet told an inquest the jail was "significantly short of prison officers" at the time of Harvey's death.

She said of the short-staffing: "Does it impact on saving lives? I believe passionately it does."

She told the inquest jury at Milton Keynes Coroner's Court that there were 80 vacancies at Woodhill Prison in 2015, but this year it was fully staffed "for the first time in six years".

The Category A prison opened in 1998

The governor told the inquest that "significant steps" had been taken to improve the treatment of prisoners with disabilities since Harvey's death.

The training put in place by the prison meant that "other prisons are now looking to Woodhill to learn how to prevent deaths", she said.

Last week the inquest heard that Harvey had been reported as having a ligature around his neck.

Nick Armstrong, counsel for the Harvey family, told the inquest that two nurses had reported seeing a strip of cloth in his cell.

He asked prison officer John Stevens: "If someone finds a ligature in a room, surely there's a discussion about going into the cell? You were happy not to go in?"

Mr Stevens said: "I thought the decisions made were correct at the time."

The inquest continues on Tuesday.