Prison officers working at Westgate and the Prison Farm have little or no medical training to deal with sick inmates, an inquest into the death of a prisoner heard yesterday.

Prison officer Odell Place told the seven-strong jury that during his six years as a guard he had never received medical or first aid training of any kind.

Yet, he said, the guards were expected to assess the prisoners when they complained of an illness and then pass the information on to the divisional officer for subsequent action to be taken.

The lack of training was revealed as the inquest resumed into the sudden death of Prison Farm inmate Steven Mansfield (Pepe) Dill, 41, who died on December 19, 2001, of a severe asthma attack.

The hearing has heard how Mr. Dill told prison guards soon after returning to the farm at 4.30 p.m. from work release that he was having trouble breathing and both his asthma pumps were empty.

However, despite repeated calls for the prison nurse to arrive with a new pump, Mr. Dill was not given any medical attention until almost midnight, when he was already unconscious. He was officially pronounced dead an hour later.

Although telephone records showed the duty nurse, Marionette DeShields-Zuill, was paged by the guards at 6.47 p.m., she said she did not receive the page and was not alerted to Mr. Dill's request for a new pump until 10 p.m.

However, it was some two hours later when she arrived at the farm in Ferry Reach.

And guards told the inquest yesterday that they did not realise his condition was serious until about 11.45 p.m., when they tried to take him to the officers' hut to await the nurse and found his eyes glazed and him unable to walk.

Minutes later he collapsed.

Prison officer Mr. Place told the Coroner's Court that he started a night shift at the Prison Farm at 10 p.m. and was told by divisional officer (D.o.) Myron Galloway that Mr. Dill was waiting for the nurse to arrive with a new pump.

He said until that point he had no idea Mr. Dill suffered from chronic asthma and said guards were not told about serious conditions of any inmates.

He said he spoke to Mr. Dill about half an hour later, and although he seemed “agitated” and asked about the whereabouts of the nurse, he did not appear to be short of breath or struggling to talk.

Mr. Place said he then saw him again at 11 p.m. and did not see any change in his condition, but by 11.30 p.m., during his usual rounds, he said Mr. Dill's condition had deteriorated slightly.

“It appeared to me at that time that he was restless... He was puffing a bit.”

But he said he could still talk and did not appear to be having difficulty breathing. However, the guard said he was told the nurse was close by, so he told Mr. Dill to follow him upstairs to the officers' hut.

“He was standing at the lower compound gate that leads up to the duty office and at that time he looked like he was out of breath,” he went on. “Like after a brisk run.

“He told me he could not walk up the steps. He said I would have to help him. That was at about 11.46 p.m.”

And Mr. Place said this was the first time that he had seen Mr. Dill in distress.

But the lawyer acting on behalf of Mr. Dill's family, Saul Froomkin QC, questioned the lack of medical training and the fact that the guards had not believed the inmate's condition was severe.

He said: “You indicated that from the day you joined the prison service to the day of the incident, you received no medical or first aid training at all.”

And the guard responded: “That's right”.

“Have you had any yet?” retorted Mr. Froomkin.

To which Mr. Place replied: “No, sir.”

Mr. Froomkin questioned the procedure for calling for medical help and was told that if the duty nurse did not respond then the head nurse should be called.

The lawyer asked why the head nurse was not called in this instance, and Mr. Place said because the duty nurse was en route.

However, the prison guard told the court that the procedure for seeking medical help for inmates was known through experience and not through training, although he said since the death of Mr. Dill the policy on calling for the duty nurse or head nurse had now been put in writing for guards.

Mr. Place said he had no idea that the nurse had at first been called before 7 p.m., but said even if he had been, he would not have been overly concerned because Mr. Dill was just waiting for a new asthma pump.

Mr. Froomkin said: “You said he was puffing and seemed a little tired, but did not seem serious. Is that what you saw? He was dead 20 minutes later.”

Mr. Place told the court that when the nurse did arrive, she began to carry out CPR on Mr. Dill, with him administering mouth to mouth and she attempting to pump his heart.

However, he said the nurse took over the whole procedure because he did not know how to do it properly.

Acting D.o. that night Robert Ball, who also started his shift at 10 p.m., said he did not automatically take over in charge because the outgoing D.o., Mr. Galloway, said he would stay until the nurse arrived.

He said he did not see Mr. Dill until he helped him upstairs to the officers' hut that night, but was aware that the nurse had been requested.

He also said he had no idea about Mr. Dill's condition, and said during his 11 years in the prison service he had only been trained in CPR.

But he said as a senior officer, he was aware that basic prison guards had no medical training, yet he relied on what they told him concerning inmates who complained of being sick.

He said he had not heard from prison guards Mr. Place or Nyal Richardson, himself an asthmatic, that Mr. Dill was in distress and needed immediate attention.

But he also told the court that during 2001, D.o. Galloway had been twice disciplined for sending inmates to the hospital without having gone through the duty nurse first.

On one of those occasions, he said an inmate had been hit with a cricket ball and was unconscious and a prison truck had taken him straight to hospital.

Mr. Ball said he called the nurse on her cell and paged her once he had seen Mr. Dill at about 11.50 p.m. and was told she was close by.

Asked why he had not called earlier, when his shift had started at 10 p.m., Mr. Ball said: “Because up until that point, Mr. Dill was just asking for a pump and there was no reports that his condition was getting worse. He was just asking for a pump.”

The inquest continues today.