UK cell death man feared Nigeria return

Category: News Published on Friday, 25 January 2013 01:40 Written by -

An inquest into the death of a detainee heard he killed himself because he feared being sent back to Nigeria, a BBC report said Wednesday.

Riliwanu Balogan was found hanged at Glen Parva Young Offender’s Institute in Leicester a day after his 21st birthday in 2011.

The inquest heard he had told staff he had nothing to live for.

The hearing coincided with the release of a report which said the centre had improved but there were still problems.

The jury inquest, which is expected to finish on Thursday, heard Mr Balogan moved to the UK when he was seven-years-old and spent much of his childhood in institutions.

He was transferred to Glen Parva, which holds men aged 18 to 21, in April 2011 to await deportation.

The morning he was found hanged on 8 May 2011 he was assessed by staff after cutting himself.

Paul Mayfield, a senior prison officer, said at the hearing: “He told me he had nothing to live for. He said ‘I’ll be deported back to Nigeria. I’ve got no-one back there. I’ll be living in the slums’.”

He was taken to Leicester Royal Infirmary after staff tried to revive him but died a week later.

The hearing also heard he had a string of previous convictions and that at the end of April he struggled to speak to a nurse because he was sobbing so hard.

An interim report by the HM Inspectorate of Prisons, released on Wednesday, showed the institute was “making sufficient progress” since its last inspection in 2009.

Inspectors, who visited after Mr Balogan’s death, said they were pleased to see improvements in the management of vulnerable prisoners and that suicide and self-harm was “generally well managed”.

But concerns were raised over dirty accommodation and the limited amount of time detainees spent outside their cells.