Over the last three days (20, 21 and 22 May 2026), the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration has authorised the publication of three reports of the Chief Inspector of Prisons, on the deaths in custody of Mr D 2021, Mr A 2022 and Mr J 2022.

The report on Mr J 2022 was submitted to the Minister’s predecessor in October 2024. The reports on Mr A 2022 and Mr D 2021 were submitted to the current Minister on, respectively, 18 July 2025 and 19 December 2025.

The Chief Inspector’s reports have been published together with disclaimers stating that the current Minister has decided that “it would be contrary to the public interest” to publish short factual extracts from the State Pathologist’s postmortem findings included by the Chief Inspector in his reports. The Chief Inspector notes that the Coroners concerned are already in possession of the postmortem reports, and that the next of kin of the deceased are entitled to request the full postmortem reports from the Coroners.

Action plans prepared by the Irish Prison Service (IPS) in response to the recommendations in the reports have also been published.

Reports on deaths in prison custody prepared by the Office of the Inspector of Prison are anonymised in an effort to respect the privacy of the next of kin of the deceased. Consequently, the Office is not in a position to confirm the identities of Mr D 2021, Mr A 2022 and Mr J 2022. However, the Office can confirm that the next of kin of Mr D 2021, Mr A 2022 and Mr J 2022 were contacted and informed of the content of these reports in advance of their publication. This is the usual practice of the Office.

The Chief Inspector of Prisons does not comment on the content of anonymised death in custody reports and will not be commenting further on his reports on these tragic deaths. The Chief Inspector considers that the content of the reports speaks for itself. He extends his deepest sympathies to the families of Mr D 2021, Mr A 2022 and Mr J 2022 on the loss of their loved ones.

ENDS

For further information, including the full text of these reports and the corresponding IPS action plans, please see Death in Custody Investigation Reports