A 48-year-old pris­on­er has died af­ter an al­leged as­sault at the Max­i­mum Se­cu­ri­ty Prison in Arou­ca, prompt­ing a po­lice in­ves­ti­ga­tion.

Christo­pher Ban­field was found un­re­spon­sive in his cell around 5.30 a.m. on Tues­day dur­ing rou­tine in­spec­tions by prison of­fi­cers.

Po­lice said an of­fi­cer no­ticed Ban­field ly­ing in a fe­tal po­si­tion on the floor. He re­port­ed­ly had a swollen face and blood was seen com­ing from his mouth. Oth­er of­fi­cers were alert­ed and Ban­field was tak­en to the prison in­fir­mary, where no vi­tal signs were de­tect­ed.