The Northern Ireland Prison Ombudsman has called for a review of policies aimed at tackling drug abuse in jails.
Pauline McCabe made the recommendation in her report into the death of a 29-year-old Newry man in Maghaberry Prison in January 2008.
The Ombudsman concluded that Alan Ruddy had died as a result of an overdose of a cocktail of prescribed and illicit drugs.
Pauline McCabe said health authorities in Northern Ireland also need to improve procedures for establishing inmates' medical history on their committal to jail and ensure senior medics have an input when deciding whether to take a prisoner off round-the-clock suicide watch.
‘I hope that the findings of this Report may also help to prevent similar deaths in future at Maghaberry or elsewhere in the Northern Ireland Prison Service,’ said Ms McCabe.
The head of the Northern Ireland Prison Service, Robin Masefield, has accepted all of the Ombudsman's recommendations and said lessons had been learnt from the incident.
Ruddy, who was serving eight months for assault, was found dead by his cell mate the morning after he took at least eight pills.
A post mortem examination found he had morphine, diazepam, amitriptyline and traces of cannabis in his system.
