A Queensland inmate due for release died after accidentally overdosing on a drug smuggled into the prison in a soft drink can, a coroner has found.
Micheal Wayne Blutcher, 31, was found unresponsive in his room at the low security farm precinct of the Capricornia Correctional Centre, near Rockhampton, in September 2013.
In his findings released on Monday, State Coroner Terry Ryan found he died from an accidental fentanyl overdose after someone threw the drug over the prison fence concealed in a soft drink can.
The Mount Isa-born inmate was due to be released just a month later, having been jailed seven months earlier for a driving and burglary offence.
Mr Ryan said another prisoner recalled Blutcher telling him there was something coming on the day of his death.
The coroner noted this prisoner said he was with Blutcher when he asked another inmate - who couldn't be located to give evidence at the inquest - to throw a can over the fence for him while on mower duty.
Cans containing OxyContin or morphine, with marijuana, had been collected on a weekly basis for at least two months, another prisoner said.
"It is clear that the arrangement went undetected by correctional staff," Mr Ryan found.
He said fentanyl was a highly potent opioid and there was a fine line between a therapeutic and toxic dose given the substance is 50-100 times more powerful than morphine.
Mr Ryan accepted plans had been made to review the supervision and surveillance of fences at the prison site.
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