Prison staff 'did not check' on murderer overnight before he took his own life at HMP Chelmsford

-Credit: (Image: Essex Police)
-Credit: (Image: Essex Police)


Prison guards failed to carry out hourly overnight checks on a convicted murderer who was later found unresponsive in his cell, a report has said. Mark Jozunas, 50, was a mentally unwell carer who was serving a life sentence at HMP Chelmsford for the murder of his bedbound mother.

Jozunas had been jailed after stabbing 78-year-old Valerie Jozunas 40 times at their home near Braintree in March 2020. He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 20 years.

He was found hanging in his cell in the early hours of March 20 by a prison officer around a year into his sentence. A report from the Prison & Probation Ombudsman published on September 25 stated he was moved into a segregation cell on March 19 after damaging his cell.

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A custodial manager completed the segregation paperwork and said that staff should observe Jozunas once an hour. A prison officer observed Jozunas in his cell at 8pm and again at 5.25am the following day but the report says there was no evidence of staff checking on him during the night.

During a routine check at 5..25am on March 20 an officer witnessed the prisoner asleep in his bed but just over an hour later an officer found him hanging in his cell. Paramedics arrived three minutes after Jozunas was found but, at 6.44am, he was pronounced dead after they were unable to resuscitate him.

The Ombudsman's report says there was "good support" to Jozunas and there were "no clear indications" that he required suicide and self-harm procedure processes the day that he was segregated. It also said that healthcare staff "did not always share key information" about Jozunas' risk with dedicated mental health staff.

Jozunas was the fourteenth prisoner to die at HMP Chelmsford since March 2018. Of those, six were self-inflicted, three were from natural causes and four were drug related. There have been five further deaths since Jozunas' including two from natural causes and three self-inflicted.

The report found that Jozunas was subject to a number of risks that could increase his risk of suicide and self-harm. There was no evidence that staff considered if he was at an increased risk when he was segregated despite having previously self-harmed on an earlier period of segregation.

Staff found identifying his risk as being "complicated by his fluctuating mental health concerns". Since Mr Jozunas' death the prison has introduced measures that include the most senior prison officer on duty being required to ensure that all night staff are aware of prisoners who required increased supervision during the night and that observations should be noted hourly to document them as taking place.

An inquest into Mr Jozunas' death concluded in January 2024 with a cause of death as asphyxiation from hanging. They also concluded that his death was contributed to by neglect.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: "HMP Chelmsford has accepted the Ombudsman’s recommendations and the prison has improved procedures around observing offenders in segregation."