Government will not decide whether a public inquiry should be held into the death of prison inmate Steven (Pepe) Dill until the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has reviewed the file.

Minister for Labour and Home Affairs Randolph Horton said last night that it would be wrong of him to make any decision before Acting DPP Kulandra Ratneser had received the report of the inquest and its outcomes.

A jury found last week that Mr. Dill, 41, died at the Prison Farm in December 2001 due to a lack of timely medical attention after suffering a severe asthma attack.

The inquest heard that Mr. Dill had been asking for a new asthma pump, or to be taken to hospital, for more than seven hours, but prison guards did little.

By the time the duty nurse arrived at the prison, Mr. Dill was unconscious and showing no signs of life. He was officially pronounced dead an hour later.

It was also revealed during the inquest that prison officers had little or no medical training, not even to first aid standard, and were unaware of prisoners' serious health conditions. It was also claimed there were few policies and procedures in place to deal with sick inmates.

Since the verdict was reached by the jury, Mr. Dill's family has called for a public inquiry into procedures at all Island prisons to prevent a similar incident happening again.

And they said they planned to sue for damages for Mr. Dill's two children, and hoped that criminal charges would be brought by the DPP.

But Mr. Horton said last night that it would be premature of him to speak to the proposal of a public inquiry at this stage.

"My understanding is that the report of the inquest is being sent to the DPP, and, since it is being sent to the DPP, I think it would be inappropriate for me to comment," said Mr. Horton.

"I reach out to the Dill family and feel for them in this difficult time. Like them, I want to see this come to closure, but until I have heard from the DPP, I think that will gauge what we should do next."

As with all inquests, the Coroner's officer, Insp. Philip Taylor of Bermuda Police, will send a report of the hearing along with the verdict to the DPP.

Mr. Ratneser said last Friday that once he had received and read the file, he would then decide whether it should be sent back to the Police for further investigation.

However, The Royal Gazette understands that Police suggested to the DPP in August of last year that there was sufficient evidence to bring serious criminal charges in the case, under the umbrella of criminal negligence, but former DPP Khamisi Tokunbo disagreed and suggested the inquest route instead.