His parents have hired lawyers to seek answers over his death and the police are also investigating on behalf of the Coroner.
The political fallout over his death, as well as video footage of inmates fighting and smoking drugs, forced Corrections Minister Sam Lotu-Iiga to today take over the "day-to-day" running of the Serco-controlled prison.
But a Weekend Herald investigation has discovered:
•Evans was involved in several fights with a member of the criminal group called the "Kings of Auckland".
•He was not "dropped" but may have been confused with a fellow inmate who was transferred to Northland Prison on the same day. Alex Littleton broke both his legs which Corrections says happened after falling over a rail while trying to escape an assault.
•Post-mortem results show Evans suffered no physical damage which could explain a ruptured lung.
Sources with knowledge of the death said Evans had not suffered any broken bones, damaged organs or bruising.
As a result, it seemed unlikely his ruptured lung was caused by an assault or being "dropped".
One possible explanation was smokers and drug users are more prone to suffer from a "spontaneous pneumothorax" where small air-filled sacs in the lung burst and leak air, without any external physical force.
Inmates have identified a member of the Kings of Auckland - a tight-knit group of friends known to commit audacious burglaries and high-speed police chases - as someone involved in several fights with Evans in the weeks leading up to his death.
The individual singled out by sources as the primary figure in one of the assaults was released from Mt Eden Prison last week after a short sentence for receiving stolen goods and being an accessory after an aggravated burglary.
He has an extensive criminal history including a four and a half year sentence for burglary and car theft charges, but no serious violence convictions.
Lorraine Littleton, who son Alex suffered two broken legs in Mt Eden prison, said she had quizzed her boy about Nick Evans. The two men were friends in a segregated area in the prison and played Scrabble together to pass time.
"Nick Evans went into segregation and he was beaten up in the cells more than once."
She said her son had spoken of two assaults but had no idea who was behind the attacks.
"I asked Alex if he had been dropped and he didn't think he had been."
However, Ms Littleton remained adamant her son was dropped despite a Corrections' inquiry finding this week he had fallen from a landing.
She said her son and Evans had been transported to Nga Wha prison together - a fact which had another inmate speculating whether information passed to the Labour MP had been muddled.
Another former inmate spoken to by the Weekend Herald named the Kings of Auckland members as being involved in at least one of the fights. He also said Evans had not been dropped.
And yet another inmate recently released from Mt Eden prison said they had never heard of the so-called practice of dropping.
Mr Davis said his initial information about Mr Evans had been bolstered by another source.
"We'll have to wait and see what comes out of these inquiries."
