Report of the Inquiry into the circumstances of the Death of Bernard ...

Chapter 10:
AFTER THE SEARCH: THE INCIDENT IN THE CELL
Summary
10.1 When Mr Lodge came back to the cell Mr Bowcock drew his attention to the local
prison rules which he had put on the cell noticeboard and highlighted with a red pen. An
incident occurred. Mr Lodge was restrained and charged under the statutory Prison
Rules with attempted assault. He was taken to the health centre then held in the
segregation unit overnight. At the adjudication next day, Mr Lodge made a counterallegation
that Officer Bowcock had lunged at him. Governor McColm found the charge
against Mr Lodge proved.
10.2 The inquiry obtained information from the personnel records of Officer Downs
and Officer Bowcock and has seen a High Court judgment that names Officer Downs.
The condition of the cell after the search
10.3 No unauthorised articles were found in the search. According to the evidence Mr
Lodge gave at the adjudication next day the cell was in a mess. .Mr Gray, the other
occupant of the cell, gave evidence to the Prison Service and the inquest that bedding
and property in the cupboard had been tipped upside down, that photographs and some
mail had been ripped up and the rules stuck on the board, with toothpaste, where the
photographs had been, with the rule about not abusing staff ringed in red with arrows
pointing at it.
10.4 Officer Downs told the inquest that they did not remake the bed but they did not
leave the cell in a mess. In his statement to the inquiry, Officer Bowcock said that he and
Officer Downs would have tried their best to return things to their original places. It would
not have been possible to return the cell to the exact state that they found it in but they
certainly did not turn the contents of the cell over and it was not in a mess.
10.5 At a preliminary meeting before the inquiry was commissioned Sonny Lodge’s
sister told the Chair of the inquiry that after Sonny’s death the prison returned two
photographs to the mother of Sonny’s children. They had plaster on the back as if they
had been stuck on a wall and were in good condition.
The ringing of the rules
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