Death of serving prison officer from Covid 19

The Director General of the Prison Service has led tributes to the first prison officer to die from Covid 19 in Northern Ireland.

Writing to Prison staff this morning Ronnie Armour said, “ It was with a deep sense of sadness that I learned last night of the passing of one of our colleagues, after a short battle with Covid-19. He cared deeply about the Service and he worked tirelessly over the years to make things better and safer.  

“On behalf of the Service I want to express our heartfelt sympathies to his family circle and to those colleagues who worked alongside him.  Our Service is the poorer for his passing and the circumstances of his death make our loss all the more painful. He will be long remembered.”

Notes to editors: 

1. The NI Prison Service has an operational staffing group of over 1300 people. 
2. This is the first Prison Officer in Northern Ireland to die from Covid-19.
3. To date only four prisoners from the general prisoner population have tested positive for Covid-19.
4. Media enquiries should be directed to the Department of Justice Press Office via email at:  press.office@justice-ni.gov.uk
5. The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for media enquiries only between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted out of hours on 028 9037 8110.

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