A prisoner has died suddenly at HMP Cardiff. A South Wales Police spokeswoman said 41-year-old Michael Beer was found dead early on New Year’s Day.
Police are not treating his death as suspicious. A source close to the Category B prison claimed that Mr Beer was in a segregation unit at the time of his death. “Michael was a vulnerable inmate who was placed into segregation for his own protection following threats,” they claimed.
The police spokeswoman said: “Just before 5am on Wednesday, January 1, South Wales Police was notified of the sudden death of a 41-year-old man at HMP Cardiff. There are no suspicious circumstances and HM Coroner has been informed.” A prison service spokesman added: “Our thoughts remain with Michael Beer’s friends and family. As with all deaths in custody, the Prison and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”
In its most recent annual report on HMP Cardiff, published last February, the independent monitoring board stated there had been one death — which was believed to be self-inflicted — and 374 self-harm incidents in the 12 months up to September 2023. The report raised “serious concerns” over the impact of overcrowding on prisoners. “A large proportion of prisoners are forced to share cells and have no access to out of cell space at mealtimes,” it read. “Consequently, men in shared cells must eat in the same space as their shared toilet.
“Along with the wider prison estate across England and Wales, HMP Cardiff is facing daily and significant pressures in terms of its population. We recognise this is not a problem at Cardiff alone and the board calls for longer-term solutions to be introduced across the prison estate. Prisoners are overwhelmingly accommodated two to a cell, raising concerns about privacy and decency.”
Another Welsh prison, HMP Parc in Bridgend, has attracted controversy in recent months over a series of deaths and alleged corruption. You can read more about that here.
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