THE mother of the fourth prisoner this month to be found hanged in Durham's prisons has called for an inquiry.

Jason Mackin was found in his cell in the hospital wing of Durham Prison on Saturday.

The 28-year-old father-of-two from Wigan, Lancashire, was serving four years and four months for robbery, assault, making threats to kill, and affray, following a raid on a Wigan pub.

Yesterday, his mother, Christine, from Wigan, said her son was being treated for depression and anxiety and demanded to know why he had not been on suicide watch.

She said: "There are some very serious questions that need answering - why did Jason die, how was he allowed to die and why is he the third person to die at Durham Prison in such a short time?"

On October 2, Beverley Fowler, 32, from Jamaica, was found dead in her cell at Durham Prison Women's Centre and on the same day Paul Stewart Day, 31, from Essex died in Frankland Prison.

In both incidents, which were not connected, the inmates were believed to have hanged themselves.

On October 7, remand prisoner Terence Gaskell, also from the Wigan area, was found hanged from a bunk-bed in Durham Prison.

The Prison Reform Trust said it was increasingly concerned about the pressures on prisoners and staff as prison inmate numbers rise. Trust director Juliet Lyon said: "It is a tragedy that despite the best efforts of the safer custody group, the number of deaths by suicide has risen this year.

"Over the past year there were 81 deaths for the whole year. As far as I can see we're already over 80 and November and December are often the worst months."

Members of the Mackin family travelled to Durham on Tuesday to find out more about the incident.

A spokesman for the Prison Service said that as with all deaths in custody, there would be an investigation by the Prison Service.

The spokesman confirmed that Jason Mackin had not been on suicide watch.