A postmortem examination is due to be conducted this morning on the body of a prisoner who died in Midlands Prison, Portlaoise, early yesterday morning.
The man, aged 28, was discovered in his cell between 1.20am and 1.30am and was attended to by prison staff before being removed to Portlaoise General Hospital. He was pronounced dead a short while later.
His name has not yet been officially released by gardaí, pending notification of his relatives. The cause of his death was unknown yesterday.
However, it is understood that the man was in a single-occupancy cell. There were no obvious external signs of the cause of death.
A postmortem examination will be conducted today, according to a spokesman for the Garda Press Office.
A spokesman for the Irish Prison Service said the prison governor was investigating the death while gardaí have also launched an investigation to establish the circumstances surrounding the death of the prisoner.