A female prisoner died in hospital today after she was found unconscious in her cell.
Ruth Murphy, who was serving a life sentence for killing her seven-year-old son, was found by guards at the Dóchas Centre in Mountjoy Prison early this morning.
Murphy (48) was taken to the Mater Hospital in Dublin, where doctors pronounced her dead soon afterward. Two separate Garda and Prison Service investigations are now under way.
Her son Karl drowned on a beach in Greystones, Co Wicklow, nine years ago.
In June 2004, Murphy was sentenced for murder in June 2001 of her son after his body was found at the north beach in Greystones on June 22nd, 2001, hours after his father John had reported him missing.
At the time, the court was told Ruth Murphy had a serious alcohol problem and was the subject of a barring order in 1998 in relation to the family home at Ashford, Co Wicklow. She was attending a psychiatric hospital.
Additional reporting: PA