Consumption of homemade alcohol remains an “ongoing issue” in Irish prisons, an inquest into the death of Mountjoy prisoner Ned Connors has heard. Connors, aged 38, died in January 2022 from acute alcohol intoxication, but the source of the ethanol found in his body was never established.
Key facts from the Mountjoy inquest
- Ned Connors was found unresponsive in his cell on January 3rd, 2022.
- A postmortem found very high levels of ethanol in his blood and urine.
- The source of the alcohol could not be confirmed.
- An inquest jury returned a verdict of misadventure.
- The jury recommended tighter checks on chemicals held in prisons and faster cell searches after serious incidents.
What happened to Ned Connors?
The inquest heard that Connors was discovered unresponsive in his cell at Mountjoy Prison. Chief State Pathologist Professor Linda Mulligan said the condition of his body suggested he had died approximately eight to 10 hours before he was found.
Connors’s brother, Michael, was also in Mountjoy at the time. He told prison staff that Ned had been staggering around his cell after drinking a clear liquid in the hours before his death.
Professor Mulligan said testing detected very high concentrations of alcohol in Connors’s blood and urine. He also had steatotic liver disease, which may have contributed to his vulnerability but was not itself the cause of death.
Despite the medical findings, investigators could not determine where the alcohol came from. The inquest examined whether it could have been homemade “hooch”, alcohol-containing chemicals or another substance, but none of those possibilities was confirmed.
Why hooch is a concern in Irish prisons
Hooch is a crude alcoholic drink generally made by fermenting fruit, sugar and yeast. In a prison setting, the process can create serious risks because the strength and composition of the drink are difficult to control.
A senior prison officer told the inquest that staff were concerned Connors might have consumed hooch. The drink can produce a strong smell, making production difficult to hide. However, the hearing was also told that some prisoners have developed more sophisticated methods involving electricity. Those methods may be harder to detect and can produce alcohol with a higher strength.
Mountjoy governor Wayne Fox said contraband continues to enter prisons despite prevention measures. The inquest heard that items may sometimes be dropped into prison grounds by drones, highlighting the changing nature of security challenges facing the Irish Prison Service.
Search of the prison wing found no hooch
Prison officers searched the relevant wing on January 5th, 2022, after concerns arose about the possible consumption of homemade alcohol. No evidence of hooch was found during that search.
Officers were also questioned about whether prisoners could have accessed chemicals used in the prison laundry or other parts of the facility. The inquest did not establish that either laundry chemicals or a homemade brewing process had caused Connors’s death.
The coroner, Dr Myra Cullinane, told jurors that it had not been possible to establish the source of the ethanol. That distinction was central to the proceedings: the medical cause of death was clear, while the precise route by which Connors consumed the alcohol remained unresolved.
Questions about hand sanitiser
The Office of the Inspector of Prisons published a report on Connors’s death in May. It recorded claims that some prisoners had consumed hand sanitiser during the Covid-19 restrictions because they believed it contained alcohol.
One account described sanitiser being removed from dispensers, boiled in a kettle and reduced to a liquid. However, the inquest heard that the sanitiser supplied in Mountjoy and other Irish prisons does not contain alcohol.
Alcohol-based sanitiser was banned in Irish jails after three prisoners were taken to hospital following the consumption of a mixture involving handwash and prescription medication at Limerick Prison during Christmas 2014. That history explains why prison authorities have treated access to alcohol-containing products as a significant safety concern.
Jury returns verdict of misadventure
The jury returned a verdict of misadventure. In this context, the verdict means that death resulted from an unintended outcome of a deliberate and voluntary act involving an element of risk.
Following the verdict, the jury made recommendations to the Irish Prison Service. These included:
- Creating a complete list of chemicals held across prison sites.
- Identifying which substances contain ethanol.
- Assessing whether ethanol-containing products can be replaced with safer alternatives.
- Carrying out general cell searches immediately after a significant incident.
Dr Cullinane said she would pass the recommendations to the Irish Prison Service, with the aim of helping prevent a similar death in the future.
What happens next?
The recommendations do not establish that a particular chemical or homemade drink caused Connors’s death. Instead, they focus on reducing uncertainty and limiting access to substances that could pose a danger inside prisons.
A full chemical inventory could help prison authorities identify risks across different facilities, while prompt searches after serious incidents could improve the chances of preserving evidence. The recommendations also place renewed attention on contraband prevention, prison inspections and the safe management of products used in everyday operations.
Frequently asked questions
What was the cause of Ned Connors’s death?
The postmortem found that Connors died from acute alcohol intoxication.
Was hooch confirmed as the source of the alcohol?
No. The inquest heard that the source of the ethanol could not be established, and a search of the prison wing found no evidence of hooch.
What does a verdict of misadventure mean?
It means the death followed an unintended outcome of a deliberate, voluntary act that carried an element of risk.
What changes did the jury recommend?
The jury recommended that the Irish Prison Service catalogue chemicals held in prisons, identify products containing ethanol, consider safer alternatives and complete general cell searches immediately after significant incidents.
Conclusion
The Mountjoy inquest established the medical cause of Ned Connors’s death but could not identify the source of the alcohol he consumed. Its findings underline why hooch remains a serious prison-safety concern and why stronger chemical controls, rapid searches and effective contraband prevention matter across the Irish prison system. The jury’s recommendations now give the Irish Prison Service practical steps to reduce the risk of another alcohol-related tragedy.
