Third prisoner dies in Loughan House in 18 months

A 28-year-old man originally from Galway but now residing in Dublin was found dead in his cell in Loughan House open prison, Blacklion, last Sunday morning in what is believed to be a drug related incident. A post mortem was carried out by the State Pathologist, Dr. Marie Cassidy, on Monday afternoon and gardaí in Ballyconnell are not treating the death as suspicious. Superintendent Brian Brunton who is leading the garda investigating said "foul play is not suspected" and the Governor of Loughan House, Martin Reilly, is also carrying out an internal investigation. It's understood that Mr. McDonagh was called for breakfast but failed to come down for it. His body was later discovered in his cell. The Irish Prison Service would neither confirm nor deny that the death was due to a heroin overdose. Local county councillor John Paul Feeley expressed his sympathy with the young man's family as well as to the prison staff. "It's not a nice way to start the new year," he added. This is the third death in the open prison in the past 18 months. In August 2008, the body of a 32-year-old man from Sligo was found dead in his cell. The body of 25-year-old Donegal man was found dead in the laundry room of the prison by a member of staff in November 2008. Foul play was not suspected in either of those incidents. Loughan House is an open prison in West Cavan and caters for 150 prisoners and is described as a "low security prison".