A WOMAN prisoner died and four others were taken to hospital after they managed to get hold of prescription drugs.

Prison officers at Styal jail in Cheshire found Julie Walsh collapsed in her cell. Despite efforts to revive her, she was pronounced dead 30 minutes later. Four other inmates at the women’s prison were found suffering from effects of taking the drugs.

Prison managers have launched an internal inquiry into how the women were able to get hold of a “tub full” of antidepressant drugs. It was claimed that the women stole the drugs from either a medicine trolley or cabinet.

Ms Walsh, 39, from Liverpool, was taken to Wythenshawe Hospital after being found in her cell at 9.20pm on Tuesday. The four others were taken to Macclesfield General Hospital, where they were treated overnight before returning to the prison near Wilmslow on Wednesday morning.

A man who has a relative at the prison said: “Prisoners are saying that the women stole a drugs cabinet or trolley.”

Ms Walsh was awaiting sentence for theft and driving offences. A prison service spokesman said that the police and coroner had been informed and an investigation would be carried out by a senior governor from another jail.

Ms Walsh’s death is the fourth at the jail this year, compared with two last year. It is the 61st death in a jail in England and Wales this year compared with 55 at the same point in 2002.

The drugs incident comes just three months after Niall Clifford, the director of women’s prisons, asked a team of governors to investigate the number of suicides at the jail.

Last night Pauline Campbell, whose 18-year-old daughter Sarah, from Whitchurch, Shropshire, died after taking an overdose of anti-depressants at the jail, said she was appalled to hear that another inmate had died.

“This reinforces the need for a public inquiry,” she said. “There have now been four deaths at Styal prison, an average of one every eight weeks, which is appalling.”

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: “This is not only a terrible tragedy, it is also a terrible indictment of the Government’s failure to attend to the drug treatment and mental health needs of vulnerable women who offend.”

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• 5 Christmas romance confessions
• Has champagne lost its sparkle?
• Your tailor-made Christmas