 Styal Prison has been criticised by penal reform campaigners |
A woman prisoner has been found dead of a suspected drugs overdose at Styal Prison, in Cheshire. It is the fourth death at the prison, near Wilmslow, in 2003.
Julie Walsh, 39, and from the Liverpool area, was discovered at 2120 BST on Tuesday.
She was attended to by a nurse but was pronounced dead 35 minutes later.
A Prison Service spokesman said police and the coroner had been informed and an investigation begun by a governor from a different prison.
Independent inquiry
He added: "Staff suspect a drugs overdose."
Ms Walsh had been awaiting sentence for theft and driving offences.
Her death follows calls in June from the Howard League for Penal Reform for an independent inquiry into the number of deaths at the prison.
It says Styal has one of the worst records for suicides in the UK.
The prison recorded two deaths in 2002, but there have been five suicides in the past 12 months, not including Ms Walsh's death.
The latest death was the 61st in England and Wales this year, compared to 55 at this point in 2002.
Prison reformers have claimed overcrowding in jails is contributing to the rising suicide rate.
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