AN inspection visit which found the regime at Maghaberry had 'stabilised' was made just weeks before a 24-year-old foreign national took his own life in a building close to an exercise yard in the jail.
Officials from HM Inspectorate of Prisons and Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJINI) carried out an unprecedented urgent follow-up visit to the Co Antrim jail in January, to establish if the "unsafe and unstable" environment had changed since a damning report released last November.
Inspectors found while the prison still falls a long way short of required safety standards improvements had been made, however, the report said "progress was fragile".
Conditions inside HMP Maghaberry were described as "Dickensian" by experts last year.
Inspectors found mental health provision at the prison had actually worsened since last year's report as a result of staff shortages.
It comes as a 24-year-old Lithuanian prisoner died in hospital on Monday, 11 days after he was discovered unconscious by staff in a toilet block of the hospital.
For the first time CJINI has triggered such a rolling monitoring exercise with inspection chiefs undertaking to carry out a series of inspections over the coming 18 months to ensure progress is maintained.
Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland Brendan McGuigan said; "While some progress had been made in addressing our concerns and the nine recommendations made in the November 2015 report, this progress was fragile.
"In my view, a significant amount of work remains outstanding to make Maghaberry safer for prisoners and staff and for this to reflect more positively in the outcomes for prisoners and their experience", he said.
Inspectors who carried out last May's unannounced visit identified a series of serious failings, with the prison on the verge of a riot, they were particularly critical of the management regime within Maghaberry.
Two months after the inspection, the then governor left his post. He was replaced by former governor of HMP Belmarsh in south London, Phil Wragg.
Mr McGuigan said: "Whilst the senior management team has started to raise expectations of what is wanted from and for the men in its care - and this was reflected in some of the staff that we met - it was not the norm.
A month before the 2015 inspection, a serious incident unfolded when a number of prisoners set fire to a storehouse, with smoke filling an adjoining accommodation block where other inmates were locked in cells.
Inspectors said the fire at Erne House almost resulted in fatalities and had called for a separate investigation into the event.
The NI Prison Service published a synopsis of the findings of the investigation last week.
The report said the fire was "wholly preventable" and highlighted "poor and reckless decision-making" by some of those in command.
Commenting on the fire report, Mr McGuigan said: "We believe the report findings vindicate the decision of the inspection team to call for an independent inquiry into the incident.
"I understand the Prison Service is taking forward the lessons that have been learned as a result of this exercise, in terms of health, and fire safety".
